Ameliorating Her Heart
by Tohrment222
Summary: A/U: Emma starts work at the local hardware store and finds out the woman who caught her eye is her new boss. Regina seems to be happy and is engaged with a son but the more time they spend together, the more Regina finds Emma is filling a void she didn't realize was there. Fic will cover several years. Multi-chapter, slow building of relationship, but definitely SwanQueen.
1. Chapter 1

_For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. _

-Audrey Hepburn

**Told from Emma's POV.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT. I detest writing that ;)**

**Life is a blank slate that gradually fills up with both exciting and devastating events. This story is a combination of both...**

I had applied for a job at the local hardware store. With my references and work ethic, I was fairly confident the job would be mine. I stand around 5'7", blonde hair that's shoulder length, and I come in around a buck forty five. So I can handle pretty much anything physical they throw my way. I'm neither girly nor butch but rather a nice mix of the two.

After two interviews, a drug test and medical exam, I strolled into my new place of employment to start my week of training. The first week is filled with enough crappy videos and virtual scenarios to make you want to stick a fork in your eye. Since none of that is pertinent to the story, I'll fast forward to the good part.

At the end of the first week of training, the store manager took all of the new hires on a tour of the store and introduced us to employees and managers from all the different departments. We also got a behind the scenes look at what made the store run so smoothly. Everything from receiving the merchandise to unloading the trucks to helping the customers tie down a freezer in a Mazda Miata. It fascinated me and I was looking forward to actually getting to do something besides watch videos. Who the hell actually pays attention to those things anyway? Hello, 1957 called. They want their boring training videos back.

I was first hired as a cashier. Everyone was. Once you learned that basic function, then you would be transferred to whatever department needed you. The cream of the crop got to choose which department they wanted to be trained in. I ain't bragging or nothing but I was pretty sure I'd be in that category. I always seemed to excel in whatever I put my mind to.

Our last stop for the day was the cash registers. I could tell you that I listened to every single word the store manager said about customer service and accountability, blah, blah blah, but out of the corner of my right eye, I caught a glimpse of this dark haired sweetheart heading our way and everything around me turned to radio silence.

As I watched her move from this person to that person, I noticed how she never seemed to stop smiling. Which was a good thing because it was beautiful on her. I saw her throw her head back and laugh at something one of the other employees said and I found myself grinning because that sound was going to be replayed over and over in my head. She started walking over to the store manager and I was trying to get a glimpse of her name tag. She had alot of pins on her red apron that proved she had been a faithful employee for years but I wasn't quite close enough to make out her name.

Once she took her spot to stand in front of us, I saw it: Regina. Her name was Regina. Well, she looked like a Regina but sounded like an Angel. She was a few inches shorter than me so that put her at around 5'4". Her hair was a deep chestnut-brown that hung loosely around her shoulders with this really nice flippy thing around the edges. She had fair skin that had a little too much red lipstick on it but hey, as long as she kept talking and let those brown eyes sparkle who really cared? My world flamed out to mere ash when she was introduced. Regina Mills: Department Manager for Cashiers. Well, of course she was. Why would anything decide to go my way?

Shortly after she was introduced, her name was paged and she excused ourselves. I watched her walk away while speaking into her walkie-talkie. The bright side was I would actually get to interact with her but the down side was she was my boss. What kinda shit on a cracker had I been handed? As she raised the walkie-talkie up, I saw the universal Go Away sign on her left hand: A large diamond engagement ring. Well that just officially ruined my day.

The following Monday was my first day of OJT or On the job training. I got my locker number and combination lock from Carol, the Human Resources lady, and headed to the break room. My locker was on the top row and I really didn't know what I was supposed to keep in there except my apron which we weren't allowed to take home but I decided to try the lock out to make sure it worked. Of course the numbers were prefabricated and couldn't be changed so I was going to have to memorize a completely random set of numbers as well as fight with the worst type of lock ever created by mankind every time I wanted to get into my little cubbyhole. I fiddled with it for awhile before giving up. It was time for me to head up front to get my assignment for the day.

As I walked up the main aisle, I started taking inventory of where everything was and decided each day I would walk up front through a different aisle so when customers asked where anything was, I could point them in the right direction. I have a bit of a photographic memory so if I saw the shelves, I could visualize where exactly the customer could find a certain item.

When I reached the front, I headed towards the service desk to find Regina. My stomach was doing that flip-flop nervous thing we're all familiar with. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I was here to do a job and everything else was unimportant. Well, all of those thoughts went out the window when she stepped through the office door into the service desk area. What was I supposed to do? Oh yeah, introduce myself.

It suprised me how professional my tone was because inside my head, there was a mad woman running around saying things like "_She is adorable! Look at that cute little nose! Could that smile get any wider? What is that smell? Listen to how she just said my name__". I had to mentally put a stop to the party going on in my head because Regina was laying out my POW or Plan of the Week. _

My first day of OJT was going to be spent with Millie out at the Lawn and Garden register. Regina asked me if I knew how to get out there and I nodded. She handed me two bottles of water while explaining the water cooler outside had burst and there was someone trying to fill up the new one with ice water but for now, Millie and I had to make do with two somewhat chilled bottles of water. I could say something cheesy happened like our fingers brushed as she handed me the water but it didn't.

Regina was very businesslike and told me to page her or dial the service desk if I needed anything. I just nodded and replied with a polite "_Yes Ma'am_" instead of telling her I had no idea how to do either of those two things. It would come to be a pattern for the two of us. I would always refuse to ask for instructions and rely solely on my deducing skills to help me figure out any problem and she would always challenge me with new problems just to watch me squirm under the pressure until the answer came.

I found my way to Lawn and Garden and immediately found Millie. She was talking up a storm with a customer telling him the best way to grow tomatoes. Even from a distance, I could see she was a little firecracker. She turned out to be a complete joy to be around. She was in her 50's, barely came up to my shoulder, and didn't need to use the intercom if she didn't want to because of the way her voice carried. Apparently she worked in Lawn and Garden all the time and her knowledge of each of the products just blew my mind. Who knew there were so many kinds of mulch and patio stones in this world?

We spent my first day in her little shack as she called it. It was basically a small shed with a cash register, phone, and stool in it. The day was a typical hot and humid sunny day but you wouldn't know it from the way the two fans Millie had in her little shack were cooling things down. I couldn't believe how much I learned that first four hours. Millie was one of those people that actually listened when I told her I do better being thrown into the water head first. She stepped aside and let me handle each customer while she verbally walked me through each transaction.

The knowledge was coming fast and hard with the relentless stream of customers needing a wide variety of items but I was in my element. The one thing I always seemed to get stuck on was customers asking about how to take care of different types of plants. Thankfully, Millie was not only trained in this but she had a huge green thumb and mostly talked from personal experience about which plants or flowers seemed to work in the local soil. She was my new favorite short hero.

She taught me how to use the intercom and took great joy in paging some of the loaders to the front gate. She always paged them by name and greeted them with a good-natured rib when they arrived. It seemed to help keep the guys motivated because it was easy to get overwhelmed when you're expected to spend the entire day in the hot sun loading hundreds of pounds of merchandise into people's vehicles.

Before the next customer stepped up, Millie told me I needed to page the boss and ask her what time I was supposed to head to lunch. So, I picked up the phone and dialed 245 to reach the service desk. I kinda felt all sorts of important since this was the first time I had done this. I expected to hear some random employee pick up but instead I heard "_This is Regina_".

Have you ever tried to swallow a cotton ball? That's what I felt was stuck in my throat. I swallowed as best I could and told her who I was and asked what time I could go to lunch. I heard her call out to another employee asking them to look on the schedule and see what time Emma was supposed to take lunch. Wait, who's Emma? Oh right. That's me. I had to close my eyes and take a quiet breath because there was no way anyone saying my name should evoke that feeling in the pit of my stomach let alone my new, apparently happily engaged, female boss.

She told me I was free to go immediately and reminded me to clock out and just return to Lawn and Garden when my hour was up. I thanked her and relayed all the info to Millie who waved and told me to go relax for a spell since I had been working so hard. I headed to the break room via the pool supply aisle. I figured it wouldn't hurt to see where all of those items were since it seemed to be a pretty popular topic among the customers who chose to checkout through Lawn and Garden. I had always liked to tinker with things and the more I saw the store through the employees eyes, the more comfortable I felt.

Once I got to the breakroom and clocked out, I had to deal with the combination lock from hell before pulling my lunch out. After stuffing my red apron into the locker and laying the lock inside the cubbyhole, I took a seat on the far left corner of the back table. Eating lunch by yourself in a breakroom full of people who already know each other can be a bit intimidating. I tried to occupy my time by reading the company newsletter but that only killed the first 20 minutes.

As people began clocking back in, the room thinned out considerably until there were only two other guys sitting at the table in front of me. I thought I heard someone clearing their throat as they turned the corner into the breakroom and as I looked up, I saw Regina walking to the time clock. I had to tighten my grip on my ham and cheese sandwich. I was taken by suprise at seeing her and for some reason the sandwich had stopped halfway to my mouth and the ham was starting to slip out.

Her back was to me but from my vantage point, I could see her fingers clicking over the digits on the time clock. 3108. I've always had a thing with numbers and memorization. Great, if that wasn't creep material I don't know what is. Stalker, party of one, your table's ready. She turned around and headed to her locker which was behind me and to my right. Thankfully, the sandwich was making its way towards my mouth again and I started chewing slowly trying to get my eyes to focus on the print in front of me proclaiming June to be the best sales month of the year.

Honestly, I wasn't focusing on anything but the sound of her combination lock spinning, the click it made when she released it, the creak her locker door made as she opened it, the thump her purse and lunch bag made as the set it on the table, the way her apron made that cotton on cotton sliding sound as she untied it and laid it in her locker after folding it. None of those things were important and yet I was hyper aware of them occurring. I glanced up just in time to see her counting out coins for the soda machine and as she caught my eye she smiled and said "_Hi"._

I nodded once while answering back with my own fascinating "_Hello_".

I heard her sneakers squeak a bit as she walked to the soda machine and glanced up to sneak a peek at how her tan shorts seemed to hug in all the right places. I should have been focusing on finishing my sandwich but somehow finding out she liked Diet Coke seemed like the more important topic of my lunch hour.

She took the seat at the far right corner of my table and proceeded to ask one of the guys how his baby was doing. I listened to her converse with him about feedings and jaundice and wondered if she had any kids. There was a lull in the conversation and I debated briefly about keeping my mouth shut but decided the least I could do is get to know my new boss. If for nothing else, it would make working around her a pleasant experience. So, I turned to her and told her she seemed to know alot about kids and asked if she had any of her own.

The next few minutes I found out she had one son, Henry, who was four years old, she had been engaged to her childhood sweetheart, Daniel, for 7 years, had worked for the company for those same 7 years and had made the bbq chicken she was eating for lunch the night before. All of that may not have seemed like a big deal to anyone else but she was sharing a part of herself with me and it made me extremely happy.

Knowing she was happily engaged set boundaries for me but I couldn't help the way my heart jumped a bit when I saw her. There's nothing wrong with a harmless crush even if it does stay permanently in my imagination. My deep, dark, overactive imagination. Before I knew it, my hour was up and it was time for me to clock back in. I told her I hoped she had a good lunch and she told me to page her if I needed anything or had a question for her. I threw my brown paper lunch bag away and retrieved my apron from my locker. After spinning the dial on the combination lock, I gave her a small smile and headed back up to Lawn and Garden. Little did I know, today would be the start of many lunches together.


	2. Chapter 2

**Told from Emma's POV.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own OUAT. Nothing has changed, dangnabbit.**

**A/N: I'm taking some liberties with Regina's personality. Bear with me. It'll be worth it ;)**

The next few weeks flew by as I settled into the routine of the store. The best part of my shift was finally getting up to the front of the store and seeing Regina busy with her issue of the moment. It gave me a few seconds to just breathe the sight of her in before I started my day. It seemed we always exchanged a quick smile whenever we saw each other but for the most part, she stayed really busy. I learned from the other cashiers that she took care of five departments. The cashiers up front, the ones in Lawn and Garden, the ones in the back of the store in the lumber department, and the ones in Tool World. She was also responsible for all of the loaders in the entire store. Needless to say, this woman was organized, meticulous, and all kinds of sexy when those brown eyes became super focused on her job.

I was pretty self-sufficient when it came to my job and didn't need alot of attention. Some of my fellow cashiers had the attention span of a gnat and needed constant hand-holding to get them through their shift. Regina and I were easing into a routine of our own. We worked roughly the same schedule if you didn't count the fact that she had to work ten hour shifts compared to my eight. Managers were 50 hour a week salary employees with alternating weekends off. I was full-time so I worked a regular forty hour week with alternating weekends off.

Most days we had lunch at the same time and when we did, those 60 minutes were the highlight of my day. I tried to play it cool and I guess it was working because she was always her friendly self. I learned she was 29 and an only child until her parents decided to foster two younger girls, Tanya and Carla. Tanya was the youngest one at 18 and was in her senior year of high school. Carla was 22 and pregnant with her first child but didn't know who the father was. I put two and two together and bet money that Carla was the wild child in the family. Regina always spoke of them as her siblings and not her foster sisters. I'm not sure why but this warmth made me happy. She never made any distinction when it came to love.

Her parents, Henry Sr and Cora, seemed to be loving, involved parents who were a strong support system for all three girls. Her mom owned a florist in our community and her dad drove an 18 wheeler for the local quarry. Regina told me about being a cheerleader in high school and how her and her fiancé, Daniel, fell in love. Apparently he was the water boy for the football team Regina cheered for and while other girls were trying to hookup with the popular players, she found herself chatting with Daniel in between cheers and at half-time. She got teased when they started dating but eventually her friends saw how well he treated her and grew to accept their romance. Each time we sat and talked, I learned more and more about her past and with every new thing she shared, my appetite for learning more grew.

I found myself committing everything she said to memory. The way she spoke about her life drew me in and made me feel like I was reliving things with her. Of course I could've gotten so absorbed in her stories because she was so touchy feely. I never really liked people touching me. You know those people who are constantly touching your arm when they talk or lightly brush the small of your back when they come up behind you, well, that's how Regina was. But I'll be damned if all my opinions on 'those people' didn't fly out the window the first time her fingers brushed my knuckles. It wasn't just me she did this with although it would've been nice if I was the one and only but it still didn't stop that warm, tingly feeling I got every time I felt her touch.

Her personality was so dynamic. I think part of what made her so popular and easy to be around was how she always let people know she was interested in what they had to say and she had this ability to make the shyest person open up by casually drawing them into the conversation. She was friendly, witty, and had a sense of humor that somehow managed to crack herself up. Don't get me started on her laugh because I could recognize it from five aisles away.

I found myself looking at our schedules at the beginning of the week and figuring out the days we were going to be going to lunch at the same time. I may have been guilty of switching with a few cashiers here and there to coordinate our lunchtimes during weeks our schedules didn't sync up. I knew I enjoyed spending time with her but I also knew I was growing attached and that wasn't good business. Even though I found her so sexy it made my balls hurt, she was becoming my best friend. Having her in my life in any capacity was better than any day without her. So, I tried to push the physical attraction to the side to focus on building what she seemed to want as well: A solid foundation for an amazing friendship. I'd take it.

I learned to appreciate the time I spent with her but was constantly aware of how it looked to be so chummy with the boss. I never could stand brown-nosers and didn't want to be labeled as one but spending time with her was worth the few whispers I heard behind my back. It didn't seem to bother her and sometimes I felt she expected more out of me because she never cut me any slack. To be honest, I wouldn't have wanted her to. It helped my fellow cashiers appreciate the work I did and eventually those whispers died down. Everyone was starting to see that I earned the respect I received. I had always let my work ethic speak for itself. Who the heck needed to suck up when you gave 100% every single minute and kept your nose clean?

It came time for my 90 day review and the store manager was the one who called me into the main office. His name was Nelson and he had worked for the company for over 20 years. He was gruff and blunt but if you worked hard and proved yourself, he didn't hesitate to pat you on the back. Praise from him was a rare thing and I had been on the receiving end of it a few times in my first three months. Gotta say I was pretty proud of that fact. People who praise everyone for everything don't rank very high in my book so I tended to respect managers like Nelson who meant what they said and said what they meant. It gave merit to the words. Well, for me at least.

He could be a hard ass but I respected how he ran the store and expected things to work together. He set the bar really high for his managers but all of the awards our store had won was proof that if you laid down the law and followed through with your expectations, other people would notice. I sat down for the review and we exchanged small talk at first before the meeting started. He asked me the usual questions about how I liked the job, did I have any complaints, what would I change about how things are run, etc. He showed me the forms my boss and three other random managers had filled out for the observational part of my OJT and I was pleasantly surprised to see several remarks in reference to me being possible supervisor material as well as recommendations for cross-training leading up to one of those positions.

We talked some more about what my five year plan for working there was before he started asking me if there were any other areas in the store that I was interested in learning about. Without a moments hesitation, I told him electrical. He explained that I would need to undergo more video training as well as OJT and testing before I became certified in that department but that if I wanted, I could be transferred over to electrical effective immediately. I was somewhat surprised that I had been asked where I wanted to work instead of being assigned a position but either way, I was happy to try something new. As I signed the necessary paperwork and stood up to shake Nelson's hand, it dawned on me that Regina would no longer be my boss. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Was that going to be a good thing or a bad one?

Knocking on the office door behind the service desk, I tried to mentally figure out what I was going to say to Regina. I didn't even have time to practice the first sentence when she opened the door and motioned for me to come in. Her office was small and only contained her desk, an extra chair and counter space that had cabinets above and below it. I chose to hop up on the counter and sit as she sat back down at her desk.

She turned around to face me and asked me how the meeting with Nelson went. I started telling her about the questions he asked and how I responded. She kept grinning at me and I found myself losing my train of thought so I finally asked her what was so funny. She started shaking her head and leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. She said I had given Nelson some of the most professional sounding answers that he had ever heard in all of his years of interviewing. Especially since those answers were coming from a new hire. I didn't feel there was anything special in anything I said so I just kindof shrugged and started telling her about the cross-departmental training that had been offered to me.

Her eyebrows went up and her mouth had this cute little smirk to it. I was just about to ask her again what was so funny when she interrupted my story by leveling a pretend glare at me and asked if this was my way of telling her that she was losing me to another department. I chuckled just a bit and told her not to think of it as losing me to another department but rather see it as her training me so well as a cashier that there was nothing left for me to do other than trying my hand at something new. I don't think she could have disagreed with that statement if she tried.

I was trying to relay everything Nelson and I talked about but my eyes kept getting drawn down to her tanned legs as she slowly swiveled from side to side as she listened to me. I don't think I was as smooth as I thought I was because whenever she caught my eyes resting on an exposed piece of skin, she would grin and shake her head. After exchanging specifics about when I started in my new position and what kind of training I was going to have to complete, she described the people in the electrical department that I would be working with as well as gave me some insight into my new Department Manager, Bob. When she felt I had a pretty good grasp on what to expect, she stood up and told me she had to get back to work. I guess our talk had counted as our allotted fifteen minute break together.

I thanked her for the heads up and told her Nelson had given me the rest of the day off but that I would see her in a few days when I came back in on Monday. We were both heading out of the office door when she stopped, grabbed my elbow and gently turned me to face her . I heard her clear her throat and quietly say **_"Hey...Congratulations, Emma_****". **

Out of all the praise coming my way from the Store manager and my fellow co-workers, those three words uttered from her lips meant the most to me. Regina was like Nelson in that she only offered praise to someone when she really meant it. She kindof seemed to be a bit shy in saying that to me but it was so heartfelt that I thanked her just as quietly before winking and turning to walk out of the store on cloud nine. I was a little nervous to move to a different department but none of that had to do with being presented with new challenges. I was worried our lunches together were a thing of the past and even trying to figure out how we would get to spend any time together was cause for my anxiety. But I'd figure something out. I always found a solution. I grinning as I walked to my car when I pictured those twinkling brown eyes. Yeah, I'd figure out something because I had about 5'4" of motivation to encourage me.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Going to be gone for the weekend. Here's an update to tide you over. Review if you hate it. hehe See, that got your attention!**

After two weeks crawled by, it was time for me to enter the wonderful world of electrical. I had some hands on knowledge already thanks to my love for tinkering combined with doing odd jobs as a handyman here and there. I had also finished a weeks worth of boring videos showing how to wire various items up and troubleshoot basic issues. I had also taken every test known to mankind on the subject. Electricity was nothing to play around with and in order to work in that department, you had to know what you were talking about. What customer wants to come in and have an employee tell them the wrong way to wire up a breaker box? I was ready. It was time to get my feet wet. Provided they were encased in shoes that had rubber soles.

My Department Manager, Bob, was tall, lanky, white-headed and spoke with a low, soft voice that was somehow powerful enough to put the fear of God in you. I liked him immediately. He was the kinda guy who took his glasses off to make sure you could look deep into his eyes when he spoke. As intense as he was, he was a big ol' teddy bear inside. He was also a man of his word and seemed to be very trustworthy. We hit it off instantly.

I was flying through my first day helping customers as best as I could since I was still learning but man, I was having a blast cutting electrical wire and using the cherry picker to get overstock down for big purchases. I felt like a freakin' boss! One particular huge order came in for a church renovation and I was just putting the last of it on the back of the cherry picker when my name was paged. I had to ignore it because I was 20 feet in the air with two spotters below me making sure none of the customers came within the danger zone. As I was lowering the cherry picker to the ground, this petite, brown-haired person I knew was standing in the aisle waiting on me with crossed arms while she tapped her foot impatiently. I turned the machine off, unbuckled my safety vest and hopped down to go talk to her.

"Did you forget how to find the service desk, Regina, or did you just want to catch a sneak peek of my bulging muscles 20 feet in the air?" I couldn't help but chuckle as I pulled my gloves off and we started walking towards the front. The rest of my team was already on the way to the back with the order I had just pulled. Contractor Sales received commission on orders that big but I got zip for actually doing the grunt work. Woulda been nice though.

She stopped me by laying a shaking hand on my arm before we reached the end of the aisle before chewing into me. "Did anyone train you for the cherry picker, Emma? Because it's a very dangerous piece of equipment and this is only your second week. Trying to load huge spools of wire and balance heavy boxes on one pallet that high up by yourself can be a disaster if you're not trained for it."

I believe that was the first time I ever looked at her like she had grown a second head.

"Uh, ok, slow your roll, brownie. I have been trained and not just by anyone, but by Bob himself. I was being extremely careful and took my time in making sure everything was loaded and balanced properly. I had both aisles roped off with spotters on each end and as you saw for yourself, I did a damn fine job in filling the order! Whoa, whoa, let's pause this and back up a second to the real issue. Were you worried or something?". I couldn't help the obnoxious grin and twinkling eyes she met when she looked up at me.

She rolled her eyes, crossed her arms again and said the only reason she was worried was that I wasn't answering my pages and she came looking for me. Once she saw me working halfway into the sky, she stayed to watch to make sure everything turned out ok.

"Aight. Thanks for leaving your department and coming over to mine to make sure everyone around me knew how to do their job. 'Cause that's normal. Sheesh. Control much?"

When she didn't reply with some snarky comment, I moved beside of her and bumped her shoulder a bit until she looked up at me and grinned. "Come on, what was so important that you kept paging me?"

As we were still standing near the end of the aisle, she looked toward the service desk and then back down the aisle to where the electrical employees were helping customers and started biting her lip. I kindof thought something was wrong and immediately wanted to swoop in and carry her out of there like some fireman in a romantic movie but I pushed those thoughts aside and waited for her to speak. When she did, it was worth the wait.

"I know you're working in a separate department but we happen to have lunch at the same time today. What do you think of actually spending our lunch hour outside of work today? Instead of in the breakroom?"

I stood there for a minute processing what she had just said and debated on handling it the same way I handle everything else which is deflect with humor when someone is unsure of themselves. Humor won out.

"So, you're basically asking me out on a date, cause that's what I heard. You want to whisk me away to some top-secret location so we can share our hopes and dreams over some exotic cuisine? 'Cause that's what I'm picking up here. You do know you're engaged and this is highly inappropriate, right? I mean, I'm starving so I'm gonna say yes so be gentle with me."

She rolled her eyes and started laughing before asking me if I always had to be a smart-ass about everything. She reminded me that the pizza hut three miles down the road could hardly qualify as a top-secret location with exotic cuisine and that by reasoning we'd been going on dates since my first day with the company. See why she and I get along so well? The woman gets me.

I told her I'd meet her at the time clock at noon but she could drive since my feet were killing me in these steel toed boots the employees working the floor had to wear. She started walking back to the service desk as she shot a reminder over her shoulder that noon didn't mean 12:01.

I had to chuckle at the demanding side of her. I stood there for a second watching her walk away before I heard someone calling for me on the walkie-talkie. I tucked my gloves into my back pocket and responded before setting a timer on my phone for 11:58. I knew if I was one second late, she'd tease me about it. 'Course she always seemed to tease me good-naturedly about something or another. That included how I had problems keeping my eyes where they belonged.

I guess I should mention that she had figured out I only dated chicks but we haven't dived into that topic yet. She does tend to tease me when me eyes wander whether it's to an attractive woman browsing in the store or whether it's her boobs staring at my face. That's the excuse I use when she catches me and lifts my chin to her eyes. None of that makes her feel uncomfortable or weirded out and it actually makes being in the 'friend' role a bit easier if I don't have to hide the fact that I think she is gorgeous. She just takes everything in stride.

I'm finishing up with explaining to a customer how to replace the wiring in a pair of old speakers he found at a garage sale when my phone beeped to let me know I needed to haul my ass back to the time clock. I made sure the customer didn't need anything else before I started high-tailing it through electrical and down the back way through lumber to minimize the risk of running into chatty customers. As I quickly walked/ half ran to the break room, I paged Bob through the walkie-talkie and let him know he'd need to answer the phone calls and customer assistance call buttons while I was gone. Everything was taken care of just as I rounded the corner and saw the time clock click over to 12:00.

It was a good thing nothing got in my way because standing next to the clock was a 5'4" giant arched eyebrow. Well, that's kindof what it looked like because her one eyebrow was arched so high on her forehead that's all I could focus on. I shrugged my shoulders and blew on my fingernails before polishing them on my chest as I watched her clock out. It was a prideful move but, hey, I wasn't late!

I was waiting beside her to take my turn when I saw her glance sideways at me until she was sure I was watching. She then casually pressed time out, 2225, and enter. My mouth dropped open and all I did was stand there like a fish with a hook in its mouth while she shrugged her shoulders, blew on her fingernails, and then polished them on her chest.

Well, damn. I think she just surprised me. I didn't even realize she paid attention to my code. I stood rooted to the spot as my eyes followed her across the room where she was getting her purse out of her locker. I closed my mouth, took my apron off, and walked over to her locker and laid my red apron inside on top of hers.

She tilted her head to the side kindof confused-like "Why did you just do that?"

"Because my back's hurting, my feet are achy and I'm starving. The last thing I want to do is fiddle with that ridiculous piece of metal locking me out of my cubbyhole that takes forever to open. That's time that could be spent driving us closer and closer to food."

"What if I don't want your germy apron contaminating mine, Ms Complainer?"

"While I find this subject to be titillating, can we weigh the pros and cons of germy aprons battling it out in a dark locker while we are driving to the food I just mentioned? 'Cause if I don't get something in my stomach soon, Imma go all Kracken on your ass."

This got a small laugh from her as she closed the locker, spun the dial on the lock and we headed out to spend our first lunch away from the store.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: To WistfulLove and the other two people who sent a pm asking how old Emma is, the answer is in this chapter. The whole reason for them going out to lunch instead of staying at the store is for them to bond a bit more. One of the ways they do this is by turning the tables and having Regina ask Emma about her life. I really enjoyed this chapter and couldn't wait to get home to work on it. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as well. Lemme know if you do :)**

It was a beautiful sunny day as we climbed into Regina's black Mercedes so she decided to put the top down. When she complains about the sun being in her face as she tries to drive, it's enough to make me want to reach through the sky and readjust it just to make her happy. It's those kind of silly thoughts that need to be deleted from my brain. I start fiddling with the radio trying to create a distraction for my wandering thoughts. Love song, no, love song, no, breakup song, nope, country, hell no, classic rock, winner!

She dug out a pair of sunglasses to combat the blinding light but I had to sit there squinting my eyes closed until I only had slits to see out of. I need to remember my shades next time. Having the top down and the wind blowing our hair every which way was worth it though. I turned the music up a bit and we just enjoyed the short ride. It was nice to have the comfort level to sit together without saying a word and just enjoy the moment all the same.

About five minutes later we were already seated inside. I sat facing the front of the restaurant and the door as I usually did. I liked to keep my back to the wall and scope out the place. I had grown up pretending to be either a spy or an FBI agent so I think part of that carried over to me always scanning my surroundings and wanting to keep everything in front of me. Regina had grabbed a menu from the hostess station up front so we could be ready to order when the waitress came by our table. I never bothered to look at menus. I always knew what I wanted and if it didn't come in a preset meal then I'd just tell whomever was taking my order to charge me whatever they needed to make my order happen. When I'm hungry, suddenly I'm a millionaire and talking like money was no object.

As I looked across the table, I instantly knew Regina was the type of person who wanted to study everything on the menu only to turn around and order the exact same thing every single time. Why waste your time by even picking up a menu in the first place? Holy hell, Imma have to fake some patience up in here. I kinda shook my head a bit because if it had been anyone else, I would've been irritated. Somehow with her, it didn't bother me. Not even a little.

The waitress came by to take our drink order and since Regina was nose deep in the toppings page, I ordered us a diet coke and a mountain dew. The waitress put her ink pen behind her ear and smiled at me before heading off to get our drinks. I didn't even realize I was checking her out until brown eyes moved into my field of vision.

"Must you always check out every woman that crosses your path?"

I winked. "Must you always notice every time I check out a woman who crosses my path?"

"Mmm. What are you going to order?"

"Does it matter? Imma order what I'm eating. A medium meat lovers pizza with extra cheese. No, wait, extra, extra cheese." I rubbed my stomach just thinking about how good that was going to taste.

"Your arteries must applaud your daily efforts to clog them prematurely."

"Whatever. Look, you better be ready to order when that waitress comes back or I'm eatin' without you. No pressure or anything."

About that time our drinks arrived and as she sat them on the table, the waitress did her little shpiel on the daily specials before Regina oh so politely interrupted her to order.

"I'll save you some breath, dear. We'll have one large pizza. Half vegetarian with extra summer squash and zucchini and half meat lovers with extra, extra cheese. Can you also bring one of the shakers with red pepper flakes to our table because ours seems to have gone missing? Thank you so much".

The waitress was trying to hold back a grin once she caught a glimpse of my shocked face staring back at Ms Queen of the Arched Eyebrow and decided that she was hightailing it back to the kitchen with our order before any sparks could fly.

"Why did you do that?" I asked indignantly trying to keep my voice to a whisper.

"Do what, dear? Order pizza like a civilized person in a setting where that very thing is appropriate?" The tease evident in her voice.

"Look, rule number one: Nobody orders for me. Rule number two: There is no rule number two because rule number one should never be broken!"

"Oooooh, ok. See, I wasn't aware there were rules. Now that I AM aware, rest assured it won't happen again". She smiled sweetly and started peeling her straw wrapper open nonchalantly signaling the end of the conversation. I just sat there furrowing my brow kindof wondering what the hell just happened. I was pretty sure I was aggravated but now I couldn't find that feeling. Damn confusing women. Always playing with your head.

She sat there sipping her diet coke and then tilted her head to the side before whispering "You look like a caveman sitting there like that. Stop with the furrowing. You'll get wrinkles before your time".

I grunted in response.

She started laughing and I found myself grinning from ear to ear watching her head tilt back as that crystal clear lilt invaded my aggravation and magically made it disappear.

She took a deep breath, giggled a few more times and then crossed her arms on top of the table and started asking me about myself. She reminded me that we always seemed to talk about her and she knew practically nothing about me.

I sat there fiddling with my straw wrapper and out of habit, I tied it in a knot. I looked up at those big, beautiful brown eyes and pulled both ends in opposite directions and the wrapper ripped. I kindof grinned just a bit before nodding to myself before I started telling her things about me that I always just kept to myself figuring nobody wanted to hear them. We spent the next 40 minutes sharing pizza while I talked about myself.

I told her I was 24, didn't know who my parents were because I was abandoned as an infant which led to me growing up being moved from one foster home to the next. I also told her about dropping out of High School to hang out with my buddy Leo who was several years older than me and owned his own handyman business. It was there I learned odds and ends which ended up helping me in my interview for this Hardware Store.

I told her how I was always self-conscious about applying for a job anywhere but Leo's because I didn't graduate. I also took a bit of pride in telling her how I saved some money up and would work during the day and take a GED class at night until I finally graduated from there with my equivalent. As soon as I got that, I parted ways with my buddy and started applying somewhere that could offer me a future with benefits and a retirement plan. This was the first place I applied and I got hired after my first try.

I wanted to tell her how great it felt to feel like part of a team or how I didn't quite know how to handle the respect I had gotten from several of my co-workers because of how quickly I was advancing at the store but I wasn't sure how to put those things into words without sounding like a pansy. I wasn't the emotional kind but having a pseudo family at work was more than I had ever had in my entire life. For the first time in 24 years, I actually felt like I belonged somewhere and that made me want to stay right where I had planted myself.

She really surprised me when she told me how proud she was at my perseverance towards my education. I didn't really know how to handle that kind of praise because nobody had ever told me they were proud of me for anything. So I just nodded and smiled, unsure of what to say. The conversation kindof came to its own conclusion as we finished off all but one slice of pizza.

"Would you mind if I wrapped that up to take back to Henry? If he had been here, he would've chosen to eat from your side of the pizza instead of mine. As much as I try to make him eat healthier, I find myself relenting pretty often. He'll be ecstatic to find out he's having pizza for dinner"

"Uh, no, go ahead. Make sure you tell him the reason it's sooooo good is because of the extra, extra cheese". I reached for my wallet to pay for lunch and caught her gaze directed at the black square in my hand. I looked down and it dawned on me that she might find that small fact about me a bit weird.

"Something catch your eye, Ms Mills?"

She looked up briefly to catch my eye before confessing "What? Oh. I...find it suprising that someone who looks so feminine carries such a staple of masculinity."

"Yeah, well, try nailing about a thousand roofing tiles in place while carrying a purse. You'll learn real fast to condense what you think you need to what you actually need and then fit what you actually need into a small square that can easily be transported. Let's just say it was a habit born of necessity but kept out of convenience." I winked, laid some cash down, and stood up to head back to the car.

From behind me, I heard her chuckle and knew if I turned around I would catch her shaking her head as she did so. I held the door open for her as we headed back to the car. Her donning Jackie Kennedy dark shades as she slipped behind the wheel and me blindly feeling my way back into my seat. Damn sun. Why'd it have to be so bright? The radio was blaring as we made our way back to the store. Bellies full, shoulders warmed by the sun, memories shared, bonds growing stronger. I leaned my head back and tilted my face up to the sun. Getting this job was the best thing that ever happened to me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you to the people who sent a pm letting me know how much they are enjoying this! It made me churn out another chapter late last night. With a little bit of editing and my undying gratitude for your thoughtfulness, I give you Chapter 5 :)**

The next couple of months were probably the happiest ones I could ever remember having. My time in electrical was never boring. There were always customers strolling in with all sorts of problems that could range from not knowing what kind of light bulb to use in their fridge to wanting to know how to wire up a new house. I found myself really enjoying the pace this department brought. As with all new things the novelty wore off and I found myself enjoying everything but getting a little bored, too. After the first couple of weeks, I kinda learned that even though the faces of the customers were different, the problems were relatively the same.

I got a lot of repeat customers with the contractors so I got to know quite a few of them and always enjoyed when they stopped by. But all in all, it was better than standing at a cash register for 8 hours. I also found that I enjoyed the customer interactions more than I thought I would. I was usually a loner who kept my head down while I worked but I guess it was because I was really comfortable in this store and setting. It also didn't hurt that when I was standing in the middle of the electrical department under the ceiling fan and light displays I had a clear view of the service desk where a certain brown-eyed girl always seemed to be. Yeah, that was a nice bonus to working on the floor.

Our lunches were getting more and more frequent as was our level of familiarity. I really liked how when we got on a subject that kept us on different sides of an opinion, I could rile her up until her face was red and those eyebrows would raise as high as she could get them while she adamantly defended her opinion as if it was the only correct one on the planet. Most of the time I could care less what the outcome of these little discussions were. I just liked seeing her all flustered and indignant. Life was really, really good.

I checked my watch to see there was only 3 minutes until lunch time and I headed up front to see if Regina was just about ready to go. I looked around, knocked on her office door, and when that search came up empty, I walked down the line of cashiers trying to find her but didn't succeed. I was heading down the main aisle to search the break room when I caught a glimpse of her about fifty feet away walking out the exit door with a dark-haired man.

I stopped where I was and just watched her walking with her head down while one hand held her purse strap against her shoulder. Right before she disappeared out of my field of vision, she turned slightly to her left and looked up and saw me standing there in the middle of the store.

She immediately stopped, frozen in her tracks, with her mouth open as if to offer an explanation. We stared at each other for a brief moment before the man to her right touched her arm and I saw her name escape his lips. She turned to look at him and I used that time to quickly walk as far down the main aisle as I could get so she couldn't see me.

I didn't stop until I had walked through the area where the bathrooms, breakrooms, and manager's offices were. I turned the corner and stepped into a tiny room where all of the hooks were for back braces, jackets, and rain gear. I walked over to my hook and slowly started peeling my jacket off as I tried to catch my breath. Why should I care if she decided to have lunch with her fiancé instead of me? We're just friends. She doesn't owe me anything. We're just friends. Just friends. Just friends. I tried repeating that phrase over and over to slow the pounding in my chest that was effecting my tear ducts.

I leaned my forehead against the wall above my jacket and squeezed my eyes shut. I had no idea why I was reacting this way to one broken lunch date. She had probably forgotten to mention it or maybe he surprised her or maybe she was so afraid of hurting my feelings that she decided not to tell me. It didn't matter why I didn't know because no matter what, I had to spend my lunch hour alone and I couldn't figure out why that made me so sad. It was a freaking hour out of my week that I had to share her with someone I had never met.

I shook my head trying to clear it and tried to take a deep breath as it felt like my lungs were quivering. As I tried to calm down, I inhaled and all I smelled was her scent. I opened my eyes and looked down to see her jacket hanging beside of mine. A white jacket with navy blue stripes with her scent imbedded in the fiber. Victoria's Secret Island Passion lotion with Red Door perfume. Light and fruity mixed with strong and powerful. A combination that was solely hers. I needed to get out of here and away from this feeling that was trying to consume me.

I headed to the time clock, punched out, threw my apron in my locker and practically jogged out of the store. Once I got in my car, I just started driving. I was jittery and unsettled but couldn't quite put my finger on why. I mean, I knew instantly I was jealous that he got her for MY lunch hour but I had known since day one that she was engaged. I also knew how they had grown apart in the past couple of years. As I held the car in the road, I thought back to the conversations we had about Daniel in the past.

Regina had tried to paint a better picture of him than the one I was picturing because from the stories she had told me about him, he sounded like he was one of those guys who took for granted that she would always be around so he had slacked off in treating her like the special woman that she was. She said when they first started dating, he would treat her like a queen, bring her flowers for no reason, rub her feet after a hard days work, write her poems and leave them around her house for her to find after he had left. All of the usual romantic things one did during the honeymoon phase of the relationship. But after Henry had been born, Daniel had taken a job with her dad driving a truck cross-country to make extra money to help her with the costs of raising their son.

Things seemed to go downhill from there. Daniel was gone for weeks at a time hauling load after load trying to make the numbers on his paycheck go higher and higher. She said it almost became a obsession but I secretly thought it sounded like the perfect way to get out of raising a kid. If Daniel was on the road, he didn't have to wake up for the 2am feedings or change 6 diapers a day. If he was working, he wasn't there to hear Henry's first words or see him take his first steps. Regina said he missed out on all of Henry's milestones and even most of his birthday parties. The guy sounded like a piece of work.

As I turned the car around and headed back to the store, I could feel myself calming down a little. I think it's because I knew the history she had with Daniel and realized the look on Regina's face as she walked out with him wasn't one of explanation, it was disappointment because she probably felt obligated to go with him but wanted to go have fun with me. The more she told me about this guy, the more I disliked him. She deserved so much better. At first, her parents thought it was great that she had a child with her High School sweetheart but even they were starting to have family functions when they knew he was going to be out of town. I think they were hoping she would find someone else who valued her like they thought she should be. It was times like this I wished I were a dude so I could whisk her away with the blessing of her family. Eh, who am I kidding? I wouldn't change anything about myself because Regina seemed to like me just the way I was.

I pulled into my parking space which had managed to become the one right beside this cute little black Mercedes. As I started walking towards the store, a cream-colored Mustang pulled up in front of the entrance blocking my path. I scowled and started to head around it when I saw Regina's face staring back at me through the passenger window. Without thinking, I walked up to the door and opened it. She smiled tentatively up at me as she got out. As I shut the door, the window was rolled down. Great. I had a clear view of the douschey driver. The infamous Daniel.

"Hey. Thanks for getting the door. You saved me from having to get out." So, the douschebag was lazy. Strike one, mother fu...

"I don't think we've met. I'm Daniel. Regina's fiancé." He extended his hand as he spoke and I reluctantly shook it while sending hate vibes through my arm to his.

"Emma. Glad to put a face to a name." It was the only thing I could think of to say that wasn't a lie.

"Well, I need to run. Bye, dollface. See you when I get home. Emma, take good care of my woman while I'm gone." With that, the douschebag peeled away from the curb blowing bits of dust and debris all over me and Regina. Strike two, motherfu...

I scowled, put my hand on the small of Regina's back and steered her towards the big Entrance sign. It wasn't until we were safely inside that I dropped my hand and took my place walking beside of her. We walked to the breakroom in silence. I was unsure of what to say and was still aggravated at having to actually meet the person on the receiving end of Regina's affection and she was quiet for...well, I'm not sure why she was quiet.

We got to the time clock and she walked up to it and pressed 2225 to clock me back in. She took a step back to let me in front of her. I casually hit 3108 to clock her back in and turned to look at her. We stood like that for a moment in the middle of a crowded breakroom, searching each others eyes before she turned to get her stuff out of her locker. I took my time putting my apron back on so we could walk up front together.

We started the long walk up the main aisle and I caught a whiff of her lipstick as she reapplied it while we strolled along. When she finished, I gently nudged her shoulder with mine and kept walking. We always seemed to be super close no matter what we were doing but somehow managed to always touch each other, too. Her touchy, feely, grabby personality was slowly rubbing off on me. Only with her though. Nobody else.

As the end of the main aisle came, we stopped. I was staring straight ahead when I felt a bump to my shoulder. I only moved my eyeballs sideways to pretend glare at her. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her smile and tuck her hair behind her ear. I moved to head down to electrical but felt her fist grab my sleeve stopping me.

She cleared her throat nervously and looked up at me, "Emma, thank you...for opening my car door." Her fist released my sleeve just enough for it to slide down and grasp my fingers, squeezing lightly.

I returned the small smile staring back at me, ran my thumb across her fingertips and released her hand. The words were not important but the meaning behind them was. I knew she was thanking me for more than that simple action but sometimes, well, sometimes we weren't very good at the ooey, gooey, mushy stuff. Not yet, anyway. After flashing her another smile and winking at her, I turned on my heel and headed back to finish my day in the department across from her. Even though we hadn't spent hardly any time together today, somehow it felt like we had grown closer.

**A/N: So, I was wondering if anyone was picking up on the easter eggs peppered throughout this story. There's already a few you have passed to get to the end of chapter 5. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts ;) Reviews are adoooooooored.**


	6. Chapter 6

As my time in electrical wore on, I could practically do anything in that department blindfolded. We found ourselves in November which was the month our store was going to be inspected by our District Manager, Eleanor Audley. She happened to be a good friend of Regina's so I had an inside scoop on what she would be looking for when she came to inspect my department.

Regina didn't want to see me fail but I had a hard time taking orders from someone who didn't know the first thing about anything remotely resembling electricity. She did however give me one piece of advice that covered an area I hadn't even considered. Apparently, Eleanor had failed a previous electrical department because some of their displays weren't working. So, I begrudgingly listened to Regina and found a few light fixtures and one ceiling fan that wasn't working. Needless to say I caught her smiling smugly from the service desk as I replaced the light fixtures that were no longer working. I just stuck my tongue out at her and made a face before climbing up the ladder to wire up a new fixture.

I had dragged the ladder over to the ceiling fans and had climbed up to install a new one when I felt cool fingertips tickling bare skin where my shirt had rode up above my hipbone. I paused with my hands above my head holding up a fan blade and looked down to see a grinning Ms Mills.

"You trying to make me lose my concentration so I fall and break something?"

"Oh I highly doubt you are incapable of doing more than one thing at a time, Ms Swan. Are you almost finished? It's break time."

I mumbled a few curses to myself but quickly screwed the fan blade to the housing and climbed down the ladder blowing dust out of my face. I stood with my hands on my hips trying to figure out if the hot chocolate in her hand was for me or her when I felt her reach up and pick a ball of dust from the side of my head. The move was so familiar and sweet that I wanted to grin like a fool and kiss her nose but instead I grunted and wiped my hands on the underside of my apron.

"Can you take this out to Millie? It's getting chilly outside and I need to use the bathroom before we take our 15. Meet me afterwards?"

Uh...of course I will take this steaming cup of hot cocoa out to Millie but only because you asked me. And because you're you. And because I would move a mountain to the right half an inch if you wanted me to. See, those are the things I wanted to say but instead I settled with, "Fine. But next time, lady, bring two cups. I'm freezing my buns off every time those front doors slide open and a big gust of wind makes its way up this ladder to my fingers."

With that I grabbed the cup and headed off to find Millie. It wasn't difficult. She was huddled in her little shack where she had replaced her fans with a small ceramic heater. She was chatting it up with a customer who had just stepped up as I did. I waited patiently while listening to her talk about which type of pavers this guy should use for his wife's serenity garden. When she was done ringing him up, she paged "Dave, code 50. Dave, get out to Lawn and Garden for a code 50, please."

The customer headed off to pull his truck around and I held up the cup Regina had given me. As Millie started sipping the chocolatey goodness, a darker blonde-haired loader came jogging up beside us yelling, "Alright! Hot cocoa for Granny! 'Bout time, too."

"Hush yer mouth, Dave. Emma here's only the deliveryman. Regina's the one taking her good ol' sweet time sending a poor old woman something to warm her bones." Millie lamented.

"Whoa. Hang on a sec. Granny? He calls you Granny? Where'd that come from?" I asked.

Millie gave Dave the customer's receipt so he would know what to load and motioned for me to step inside her little shack. Once inside, she pointed to a corkboard she had nailed up which held all sorts of pictures of kids from infants to teenagers. She explained that she had worked here so long, she had kindof adopted a bunch of the employees and was affectionately known as the Community Grandma. I couldn't help but chuckle at this because it definitely fit her personality.

We talked for a few more minutes until I remembered Regina was probably waiting impatiently for me in the breakroom so I told Granny goodbye and raced down the back way to avoid customers.

I found Regina standing with her arms crossed staring at the wall where every employees schedules were posted. I saw a frown on that olive-skinned face and knew she had figured out we were both working on Thanksgiving Day. Yeah, it sucked but it didn't really suck for me because I never had anyone to celebrate with anyway but I knew her family was super tight and holidays were a big deal. I sidled up next to her and put my arm around her shoulder.

"Whatcha see, boo?"

She sighed and laid her head on my shoulder. "That. Work, work, work. I thought I might have to work the first part of the day but I didn't think I would be working 12-10. That means we can't reschedule dinner because I'll be working all day. I'll miss everything."

I briefly laid my head on top of hers before pulling her towards the breakroom and getting her a diet coke from the machine. She asked me if I had any plans that had been ruined by having to work on Thanksgiving but I reminded her the only family I had was Leo and he was flying to Vegas to gamble his tax return away. He'd been saving it for months just for this occasion.

We spent the rest of our 15 minute break talking about holidays and then headed back up to our respective departments. I spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out how to wipe that frown off of her face and by the end of my shift, I had it. I grabbed my walkie-talkie and paged Nelson.

He responded with his usual "Gourd head."

I asked him to meet me in his office and got a prompt "10-4".

I raced to the back, clocked out, stuffed my apron in my locker and was waiting for him in his office. He asked me what was on my mind and I just told him that I had found out today Regina had to work Thanksgiving and it would be the first one she wouldn't get to celebrate with her son. I offered to hang around off the clock and cover her job while she took a longer lunch but Nelson waved off that notion with the flick of a wrist.

He told me he knew Regina was one of those people who showed up early and left late and did alot of work off the clock. So, his solution was for me to take her to her parents house but not clock out. We could stay as long as we needed to in order to eat a nice family dinner and he'd get the Human Resources person to go in and manually put us in for just our usual hour-long lunch.

While I was thankful for such a generous offer, I couldn't help but ask him why he was offering the same thing to me when I just wanted her to be able to spend time with her family. He stood up, winked, reattached his walkie-talkie to his belt and grinned while he teased, "Best friends, Em. Know what I mean?"

He slapped me on the back and walked out of his office whistling. I stood there trying to process what had just happened. My store manager had just suggested, no, he _told_ me to go spend Thanksgiving with my best friend. Only...I got the distinct impression his terminology hinted at him believing we were something more. I just shook my head and went around his desk to use the phone.

I called Wonderland's Temptations and asked to speak to Cora. Even though I had never met Regina's mom, I felt like I knew the woman because of everything Regina had told me about her. When she came to the phone, I told her who I was and couldn't get anything else out because Cora was gushing about how much it meant to her and her husband for Regina to have someone she was so close to. I sank down into Nelson's chair and just listened with a smile on my face. I knew how much Regina meant to me but it was different to hear someone else telling me how much they thought I meant to her.

It warmed my heart to hear Cora repeating different things I knew Regina must've went back and told her about me. I found myself doodling on the desk with my fingertip as I sat there with this goofy grin on my face. Once Cora was finished, and man was she long-winded, I told her what I had asked Nelson as well as his response and asked her if there was any way she could schedule Thanksgiving dinner for more of an early lunch at 3pm.

She immediately told me to shut my mouth because if I had went out of my way to ensure the entire family was together for dinner, then she'd have it whenever she needed to. She also told me I was to bring Regina and there would be no discussion. She told me I was family now and she couldn't wait to put her arms around me.

We hung up with promises to zip our lips. I promised to keep it from Regina and only tell her once we were in the car heading to dinner. I'd need her to tell me how to get to her parents house. I walked out, grabbed my jacket and pulled it on as I headed up front. As I neared the service desk, I caught sight of a blur of brown. Brown hair, brown eyes, and tight brown slacks that did little to hide the cute bubble hiding under the back of the fabric.

I heard a polite cough and looked up to see twinkling brown eyes staring at me. Ahhh, I'd been caught leering. I mouthed 'sorry' but she laughed because she knew I was anything but.

She crooked her finger at me and motioned for me to follow her into her office. I took my usual spot sitting up on her countertop. She was rummaging through one of the drawers and I heard crinkling before she turned around with a grin and told me to close my eyes. I arched an eyebrow at her but obliged. It was when she told me to open my mouth that I had a small bout of apprehension but that quickly got shoved aside as I obeyed.

I could sense her moving closer to me as she stood between my legs. I smelled something sweet but before I could question anything, I felt soft fingertips sliding a piece of candy inside my mouth. I grabbed her wrist and closed my mouth, swirling the candy around trying to figure out what it was.

I started smiling and moved the candy to one side of my mouth as I whispered "You remembered me telling you that?"

Even with my eyes closed, I could hear the smile in her voice.

Her voice was an octave lower and she softly replied, "Well, dear, you were pretty adamant in your opinion that this was, and I quote 'The best candy in the world'. It's hard to forget your compelling argument."

I opened my eyes to find her gorgeous white teeth shining because of the wide smile on her face. Her wrist slipped from my grasp but as I saw her looking around trying to figure out how to clean her index finger and thumb, I grabbed it again and brought it up to my mouth. Her smile slowly faded as I kissed her index finger before gently covering just the tip with my lips. I repeated the motion with her thumb before bringing her wrist back down and releasing it.

It was then I realized both of her palms were lightly resting on my thighs. We stood like that for a few moments with the silence becoming almost deafening. I moved the piece of candy from one side of my mouth to the other a few times before winking. "Yeahhhhh, soooo, now there's NO way this candy isn't THE best candy in the world. Watch out, people. One day cherry jolly ranchers will be hard to find because everyone will be obsessed with them."

She rolled her eyes and moved out from her spot between my legs. Humor always seemed to be my go-to emotion when things got a little intense between us. I was cracking jokes but inside that familiar rapid heartbeat was thrumming against my chest. It seemed to only get that way when she was around. Of course she just stuck her hands in my mouth so that could have something to do with it, too.

**A/N: Thank you to those who are fav/following/reviewing and msg me! All of those things are wonderful ways to keep the juices flowing. It already brought Chapter 6! Keep 'em coming :) Don't forget to leave a comment if you think you've found an easter egg :D**


	7. Chapter 7

Thanksgiving Day was here. I looked back at how my life had changed since the first of the year and could barely wrap my head around the fact that I was getting ready to celebrate my first real holiday with someone I cared about. I was a little nervous whenever I thought about walking into Regina's parents home and meeting her family for the first time but that thought was quickly eradicated when I pictured that gorgeous smile lighting up the room.

The day before, I had double checked with Nelson to make sure it was still ok for us to be gone for an extended lunch break and was met with an exaggerated sigh and an intense stare. I had backed away with my palms up saying, "Ok, ok, ok. Yes sir!"

I had spoken with Cora once more earlier in the week to ask her how long it would take for Regina and I to drive to their home and she had said a good half an hour if traffic was light. With driving time, that gave us a good hour to eat. I had confirmed a 3pm early dinner and gotten the first part of the driving instructions before saying goodbye.

Once 2:30 rolled around, I headed back to the breakroom to grab our jackets and headed up front. Regina was busy giving one of the cashiers change for $100 so I waited by her office door. She saw me, smiled, and held up one finger for me to wait for her. When she was finished, we both headed into her office. I waited for her to put the money away and lock the safe before walking up to her. She started to say something and I put my finger on her lips to shush her.

I put my arms around her waist and started unbuckling the strap on the back of the apron. Her eyes were quizzical but I just winked before pulling the top strap over her head and laying both of our aprons on her desk. I grabbed her jacket that I had laid over her chair and helped her into it. I opened the office door and motioned for her to walk out in front of me and then put my hand on the small of her back to steer her towards the Exit.

As the door opened and we headed towards my car, little bits of snow flurries started hitting our faces. My leather jacket was doing nothing to stop the chill of the wind as it blew against us. Regina was walking to my left when I saw her stumble a bit on a puddle of water that had turned to ice because of the weather. Without thinking, my arm shot out to steady her and after she regained her balance, I reached down and entwined our fingers together. I told myself I did this to make sure she had something to hold onto and that it had nothing to do with how warm my entire body seemed to get from that contact. It also did not make me happy as a lark when I felt her tighten her grip. It was just for safety. Nothing else.

I held the door to my yellow VW bug open for her and I saw the doubt written all over her face but she didn't say a word as I shut the door and then went around to climb in myself. As a matter of fact, she didn't say one word until we had hit the road heading towards her parents house.

"You're kidnapping me on Thanksgiving? Dear, you do realize it would be a more effective kidnapping if you blindfolded me?"

"Nah. You'd enjoy that too much. I figured I'd give you a few guesses before letting the cat outta the bag. What's guess number one?" I tried to distract her while fiddling with the heat praying it would kick on before we froze to death.

"Well, let's see, by process of elimination I would say El Rodeo? There aren't many places open today."

"Nope. Strike one, Reggie. Next guess?"

"Don't call me that. We're not doing that."

"We're not doing what?" I asked just as the warm air blew through the vent and hit my frozen fingertips.

"Cute little nicknames. We don't do that sort of thing. Second guess would be China Garden?"

I knew if I turned to look her nose would be crinkled up in confusion. I grinned. "Nope. Last chance. Wanna hint?"

"No, I most certainly do not want a hint. I'm more than capable of guessing our destination on a day where 90% of the restaurants in this town are closed." She huffed.

"Aight. Just a word of warning. I never said it was a restaurant."

She sat in her corner of the car as quiet as a church mouse though I knew the gerbil in her head was exhausted at all of the spinning it was having to do on that wheel inside her brain.

I heard her murmuring to herself as she tried to figure it out, "We're going to eat, but not at a restaurant, on Thanksgiving, in the snow."

"Emma, I...the only thing I can figure out is either we're going through the drive-thru somewhere or we're going to someone's house but I have no idea whose house it would be. The only place I would even want to go on Thanksgiving is my moms."

She turned to look at me and I eased off the accelerator to look at her and touch my finger to the tip of my nose.

"My moms? We're going to my parents? How...how did you...who did you talk...we're really going? Please don't tease because that would not be funny."

The hopefulness and pleading in her voice was breaking my heart. I couldn't stand her not knowing any longer and besides I was busting at the seams after keeping this to myself for as long as I had.

"Long story short is-Nelson is letting us take an extended lunch so you can see Henry and the rest of your family for Thanksgiving. Your mom scheduled an early dinner for 3pm so you need to keep an eye out and make sure you tell me where to turn because I have no idea where I'm going."

The next thing I knew, this normally composed woman had thrown her hands around my neck nearly choking me as I drove and had planted a kiss on my cheek that was wet from tears of joy. I could have melted Mount Everest with the amount of warmth I had flowing through me. I had never had anyone in my life that made me want to do things for them. But, Regina? She was the exception.

"Alright, alright. Enough with the crying. We're getting close to where my directions run out so you need to guide me."

Within a few minutes, we were turning into the driveway to a two-story house that had curious faces peeking from behind the curtains. I handed Regina a tissue to blow her nose before jumping out to get the door for her. We made our way towards the front door with her holding onto my forearm. We weren't even on the porch before the door flew open and Regina was attacked by two younger women. I assumed they were her sisters and that was confirmed once introductions were made.

We all stepped inside with me bringing up the rear and the house smelled like what I imagined a house from the 17th century would smell like. Baked goods, turkey, and fresh bread. It smelled like home. I stood awkwardly in the door as the three women in front of me were talking a mile a minute. Off to my right, I saw a smaller, rotund fella heading my way. He stuck out his hand and shook mine while introducing himself as Regina's father, Henry Sr.

I was in the process of telling him how nice it was to finally meet him when from somewhere across the room I heard a shriek that could only have come from one very excited Momma Cora, "Henry Mills! Don't you dare greet that girl with a handshake. She's family! You drop that hand and give her a hug right this instant!"

I turned to face the older Mills man and he rubbed the back of his neck much the same way I did when I was unsure of what to do. Before either one of us could react, Cora came huffing towards me, pushed Henry aside, and enveloped me in one of the strongest hugs I had ever received. I felt like my eyes were going to bulge out of my head as she practically lifted me off of the floor.

I looked up to see Regina grinning and biting her lip and mouthed "Help me" but her and her sisters shook their heads and doubled over laughing. It was then I knew I was on my own.

Cora released me long enough to hug Regina and pinch her cheeks before grabbing my hand and dragging me off to the kitchen. Apparently somewhere along the way, Regina had mentioned my love for sweet potato casserole with pecans and tiny marshmallows on top. So, of course Cora knowing what I had planned for her daughter decided to make me feel like I was included by making my favorite dish. She said each holiday she let each of her girls choose a favorite for her to make and I was no exception.

Being included this quickly by someone who had just met me made me feel uneasy and grateful all at the same time. It was all a little overwhelming though. I had never been to a family meal like this so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. About that time, almost as if she sensed my moment of panic, Regina sauntered into the kitchen and swatted me towards the bathroom telling me to wash up. I flashed her a quick smile of thanks before heading off to find some soap and water.

The house looked small on the outside but once you got inside, there were all sorts of rooms and hallways. I kinda got lost looking for the washroom. I was standing in the middle of one hallway, looking to my left, then right, then left again trying to debate which direction held a better chance for me finding some sort of sink with soap when from behind me I heard "Can you fix my dragon?"

I whirled around to find the master of the house staring up at me with a sad expression holding a plastic dragon in one hand and what I can only assume was its tail in the other. I walked slowly towards him and knelt down to keep from intimidating him.

"What's wrong with it, buddy?"

"It's his tail. It broked off. Can you fix it?" The small brown-haired boy asked.

"Ohhhh. I see. It 'broked', did it? Well, let's see if we can find some tape or glue around here somewhere and we'll patch him up good as new. Whaddya say?"

This huge smile broke out on his face and I could instantly see the Regina in him. Of course if I wasn't sure who he was, that was confirmed at what he did next.

"My name's Henry Daniel Mills and I'm four years old." He reiterated that fact by holding up four tiny fingers. "Are you my mom's friend?"

"Yep. I'm Emma Swan. And I'm...well, I don't have enough fingers to tell you how many I am but I'm pleased to meet you, Henry."

I held out my hand for him to give me the toy and after looking back and forth from me to the dragon a few times, he reluctantly handed it to me and told me to be very careful with it. So, off we went, rummaging around the back part of the house looking for something to put this 'broked' animal back together. I finally lucked out by finding tape in one of the many drawers we opened and wasted no time in wrapping it around the body and tail of the dark green dragon in my hand.

Once it was mended, I handed it back to Henry and was rewarded with a big grin before he rushed off to find his mom. I found my way back to the kitchen and saw Regina carrying on a secret conversation with the small boy who was now resting on her hip showing her his fixed dragon. I felt my heart go flip-flop at the sight of the two of them but didn't have time to dwell on it because Regina tucked her hair behind her ear and cocked her head to the side before motioning for me to come over to the two of them.

"Should I tell her, Henry?" She stage whispered to him.

He giggled and nodded vehemently before they both turned to look at me.

Regina continued her stage whispering,"Henry said he met my friend and that she fixed his dragon. Apparently your new name is Bob the Builder."

I looked from one set of brown eyes to another set with a puzzled expression before Regina figured out I had no idea what that meant. She leaned toward me before whispering in my ear, "Bob the Builder's motto is 'Can we fix it? Yes, we can! Henry now believes you can fix anything."

I tried to ignore the feel of her warm breath against my ear and focus on the words. It was kindof cute when you think about it. The kid now thought I could do anything. It literally made my day. I wasn't the best with kids and knowing Regina's had taken to me immediately made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

She set him down and he promptly grabbed my finger and started leading me towards the table telling me I was going to sit beside of him. I looked back at Regina helplessly and she waved me off telling me she would fix my plate and bring it to me. So, off I went hand in finger with this bundle of excitement that was the kid of the woman I worshipped.

I sat down and listened to him tell me about all the things about Thanksgiving that he liked and only heard him pause when the lights got dimmed. Henry Sr was bringing out the turkey to set at the head of the table before he carved it. Regina had come into the dining room carrying a plate for me and Henry before disappearing back into the kitchen to grab her own. Once we were all seated around the table, her dad asked each of us to share something we were thankful with before he sliced into a perfectly golden bird.

As the chatter started back up, I sat there staring down at my plate which held all the things I would eat and not one that I despised. It seemed I wasn't the only one who paid attention to what we ate during our lunches. Sitting in the corner of the rectangular divided plate was a generous helping of sweet potato casserole complete with pecans and toasted marshmallow topping.

I looked up to scan the now familiar faces around the table and for the first time in my life, I felt like I was part of a family. A real, honest to goodness family. I was trying to blink back the tears that were threatening to be made known. Sharing a meal with wonderful people shouldn't make me want to cry but for some reason, all of this felt so good I could feel myself getting emotional. I tried to distract myself.

I could see a plastic dragon sitting between mine and Henry's plate and heard Henry on my right chatting away about why turkey was better than ham but how he couldn't wait to have ham for Christmas. I could hear Cora near the head of the table asking Carla about her morning sickness. I heard Tanya and Henry Sr discussing her Senior trip from somewhere near me. But it was the movement on my left that made me smile. A soft hand squeezing my thigh in silent reassurance. Thanksgiving was traditionally a holiday about family and as much as I was trying to fight back the feelings, it seemed like I had found mine.

**A/N: I wanted to take my time with this chapter to get it just right. It's alot, right? Meeting the family and Henry. Love it/dislike it? Lemme know! Still no thoughts on the easter eggs? Hmmm...**

**Thank you in advance to everyone who takes the time to drop a pm and review. It's good for the soul. Oh, and these ten fingers that plow through their cramping ;)**


	8. Chapter 8

It seems like all we do the latter part of the year is celebrate something. Special occasions, holidays, and the beginning of another year. Normally, all of those things would have passed me by without a second thought but now that Regina was in my life, I was actually getting in the spirit of things, so to speak.

Take Christmas for example. The only places I had ever been where it was celebrated were foster homes and I was always the kid who got socks or new pajamas. To me, Christmas was one of those family traditions that made me feel like I was always standing on the outside looking in. I never had anyone treat me special or put thought into my gift. Every present was merely a necessity wrapped in cartoonish paper. Definitely nothing memorable. I felt pretty confident that this year was going to be different.

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, our store swung into full force in preparation for the busiest shopping quarter of the year. Suddenly Christmas music was playing as employees hung up garland and speciality lights that we sold in hopes of catching the attention of the customers heading out to Lawn and Garden to buy their holiday tree.

I stayed inside helping people who were a little more price conscious find low voltage LED lights that were solar-powered. Just because you wanted your house to compete with your neighbors' didn't mean you wanted to match their electric bill. We had two independent contractors on standby who were not hired or backed by our warranty standards but customers wishing to throw nets of lights over their entire lawn could hire these guys to do it for them. They were licensed and got paid in cash so customers were on their own if they were that desperate.

I cringed when I thought spending another holiday alone in yet another extended stay motel. I kept telling myself one of these days I'd find a nice town and settle down in it. But until then, living week to week with no contracts and a set price per week was best for me. The place was small so there was no room for company. Even if I wanted to invite someone over, the place was run down. My studio apartment/hotel room was clean but living all around me were drunks and guys trying to sell ya something 'under the table'. Definitely not a place I was looking forward to spending my holiday week off at.

One of the mixed blessings about this store is that it completely closed down Christmas Eve and didn't reopen until after the first of the new year. Guess that's what you should expect in small towns. Regina said it wasn't because we were in a small town but rather it was the Company's way of boosting employees morale. Most people were more productive after taking breaks to spend with their family.

Whatever the reason, I just knew I was going to have to find something to do during those long nine days that started tomorrow. I plastered a smile on my face and headed out to Lawn & Garden. I heard Millie paging loader after loader but I was bettin' she was selling trees faster than the guys could get them loaded.

"Heya, Granny. Want an extra set of hands?"

"Bless your heart child. I'll take all I can get. Blue station wagon, douglas fir, here's their receipt. And pull those gloves outta yer back pocket! I won't have Regina skinning me alive if you get frostbite!"

"Haha, forget I'm in electrical? Regina's not my boss anymore." I slipped on my black leather gloves and started pushing the huge tree through the wrapper.

I could barely hear her as I struggled to put the tree on my back but it sounded something like "Coulda fooled me!"

I was grunting trying to lift the tree up and over onto the luggage rails on top of this station wagon. Once I got it situated, tying it off took no time at all. I initialed the guys receipt and walked back to where Millie was.

She walked up to me, wiped the snow that had fallen on my eyebrows and pulled me inside her shack to warm up.

"Thanks for helping, Ems. Now, about Christmas. Where you plan on spending it?"

"Uh...honestly, Granny, I hadn't given it much thought. I mean, Regina's entire family is going to their vacation home so they can go skiing and a bunch of other things. I figured I'd hangout at home and catch up on some tv shows that I always seemed to miss. Maybe grab some fast food and call it a day."

"Sweet jesus, you just blasphemed right in front of me, young'un. Fast food and tv on Christmas?" Granny dismissed me with a wave of her hand "I'm going to tell Maggie to pick you up and you're coming to spend Christmas Day with us. We always have an open dinner which means anyone that ain't got nobody is welcome in our home."

I opened my mouth to politely decline but, wow, one look at that stony, death glare coming from a 50 year old Community Grandma made me change my tune. I just closed my mouth, smiled and waved.

As I walked back into the store, I found myself a little bit lighter. I mean, for once I was going to be around adults who accepted me and we'd be sharing a meal so things were already better than any childhood memory I had. I just wish I didn't have to go nine days without seeing Regina. I had kindof thought she might invite me over for Christmas but once I found out her family was taking a vacation together, I put that thought on the back burner. I'd see her when she got back and we could have our own celebration together.

Speaking of the apple of my eye, I caught her trying to casually stroll past electrical looking for me. She hadn't noticed me coming in from Lawn & Garden and that allowed me to sneak up behind her. I followed her for a few steps before slipping my icy fingers around her neck.

I think the people driving by in the parking lot heard her gasp. She grabbed my fingers and whirled herself around slapping me on the chest. "Where were you? I've paged you twice and you weren't in your department."

"Awww, was someone missing me? I do have other things to do than stand around waiting on you hand and foot. You know that right?" I waggled my eyebrows so she could see I was teasing her.

She must've noticed she was still holding onto my hand because she started rubbing it between her two warm ones. "Did you wear your gloves?"

"Yes, I wore my gloves! I can't throw a tree on top of someone's car without some kind of traction."

She grabbed my other hand and started warming it the same way. "Where's your back brace?"

"Geez, what's with the third degree? My back brace is on like it always is when I'm working the floor.

She narrowed her eyes at me, dropped my now tingling hands, and moved so close to me I thought she might lay one on me. Instead she arched her eyebrow and slid both arms around my waist to bring both ends of my back brace around to my stomach before velcroing them tightly into place. She then stepped back and crossed her arms.

I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath, "Ok, mayyyyyyyybe I forgot to fasten the back brace but it was just this one time. See, no harm, no foul."

It's never good when she just stands there staring at me tapping her foot.

"Regina, look, I..."

"No. You don't get to speak. You were taught safety precautions for every situation in this store. You helping Granny is not in your job description. That's why we have loaders. Their only job is to load and unload merchandise from sun up to sun down. YOUR job is in electrical. Unless you are asked by a Manager to help someone from another department out, you will stay in your assigned area. Do I make myself clear?"

There was no way to compete with a pissed off Latina who had already busted you for not using the safety precautions you knew you should've been.

"Fine. _Fine_. You wanna pull Manager rank, do it. But in my defense, that back brace is itchy." I pushed past her to head down one of my aisles.

Her voice softened as she called after me, "Emmmmma, it's there to make sure you don't get hurt. Could you...just try to be safe...for me?"

I stopped, turned around, threw my head back and sighed dramatically before looking back at her, "You know that's your Trump card, right?"

She grinned and batted her eyelashes a few times before tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.

"MMmmmmhhmmm. S'what I thought. You're lucky you're cute."

We all spent the last day at work kindof goofing off. The customers seemed to take it in stride and have a good time with us. It came time for the store to close and since it was the day before Holiday Break, we were closing early. Everyone was making their rounds and saying their goodbyes. I was dragging my feet because I didn't want the day to end. I was rounding the corner to the main aisle when I saw Regina heading toward me with a big grin on her face. I bent at the waist and swept my arm in front of me with an exaggerated flair, "After you, M'Lady."

She laughed and stepped in front of me, "You're such a nerd."

"Ahhh, but the nerds always get the girls. Haven't you heard?"

"Whatever makes you sleep at night, Dear."

I nudged her shoulder a bit rougher than usual which only made her laugh harder.

She got to the time clock before me and proceeded to hit 2225 and clock me out.

I stepped in front of her and counted to three silently. I turned around with this confused expression on my face and asked her "What was your number again? I forgot."

Her mouth dropped open and you would've thought I had told her I crushed a kitten with my boot.

I wiggled my eyebrows and pointed at her, "Aha! Gotcha! Merry Christmas, G."

I quickly clocked her out and moved away before she could hit me with that bony hand of hers.

"Haha, very funny. and Don't. We're not doing that."

"Ohhhh, right, right. No nicknames. My bad. Ahem. Merry Christmas, _Regina_. There. That better?"

"Mmmm."

We started taking our aprons off and I waited until she had gotten her purse out and laid her apron in her locker before placing mine on top of hers. She turned to look at me with this strange look on her face.

I casually shrugged before closing the door and locking it. "In case one gets lonely."

We walked quietly outside and as the snow hit us, I held my arm out for her to take. She looped her hand through it and we strolled to our cars. Black and yellow. With a hint of white covering them. Our little flour dusted bumblebee. I opened her driver's door for her and started the car to get the heat going before sliding out to stand in front of her.

"Well, guess I'll...see you in nine days?"

"Or before. If you want. Where are you spending Christmas? Will you be with someone?" I think it had just dawned on her that she had forgotten to ask me.

"Oh, Granny invited me over to her place to eat. Maggie's coming to pick me up. Guess I'll hang out there for awhile."

"Maggie? Maggie from the Paint Department?" Regina furrowed her brow as if she was going to ask me something else but stopped.

"Yeah. She's pretty cool. We haven't really hung out alot but she comes by my department on her way to Lawn and Garden to see Granny."

"Is that so? Well, I do hope you enjoy yourself." With that she turned to get in the car.

I put my hand on her arm and before I could stop, I found myself whispering, "I'll miss you."

These wide brown eyes whipped around to gaze at me. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it just as quickly. The next thing I knew, a gust of her perfume surrounded me as she wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed tightly before whispering, "I'll call you. Save New Year's for me."

With that, just like the snow flurries around me, she melted away. I watched the plume of exhaust as it exited the parking lot and headed down the highway out of sight. I sighed and dug around in my pocket for my car keys. I threw them up in the air once and grinned as I caught them. Why hadn't I thought to start my car? I could use some heat.

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of the reviews. To the Guest reviewers: I see you and appreciate everything you say! There's more in store for our girls. Lots of goodness and angst mixed in. Stick around for the ride!**

**Quick poll: I'm working on a couple of chapters at once. Just noting things as they come to mind. I'm having a bit of trouble trying to decide if I want to bump this story up to an M rating in future chapters. Slow your roll, brownies. It's not quite there yet. But, would you guys mind an M rating or should I keep it at a T? I have a bit of trouble writing at a T level when it comes to hawtness. Wouldn't want to lose readers now though :) Opinions?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Alrighty peeps. Thank you for all of the pm and notes in your reviews. Once we get to the Hawtness, this story will change from a T rating to an M. Round of applause? *grin* Look for that soon, but not too soon. Oooooo the suspense.**

I stood outside by the Extended Stay sign waiting for Maggie to show up. The parking lot was practically deserted so it's not like she would have any trouble finding me but I figured a red leather jacket would be easy to spot through a few snowflakes. I looked at my watch for the fifth time. It's not like she was late but after getting into the habit of being around so many people at work each week, spending Christmas Eve by myself bummed me out. I was looking forward to some company. There was only so much tv a person could take in one day.

About that time, a rusted out red Jeep put its blinker on and I knew that had to be Maggie. She pulled up to the curb and motioned for me to go around and hop in the passenger seat. By the time I got in, what little bit of heat coming from the small vents was a blessing.

"Heya Maggie. Thanks for picking me up. Standing out there, I felt like that donkey in Shrek singing 'I'm allll alooooooone'."

As the slender, lanky brunette pulled away from the curb and headed down the highway towards Granny's, she started singing with me. We spent the next few minutes belting out what parts of the song we could remember and were practically doubled over in laughter as we pulled into the driveway.

We sat in the Jeep trying to catch our breath before heading in. As we walked to the front door, I tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, I been meanin' to ask you something. Why do we have old people names?"

She snapped her gum and just went "Huh?"

I waved my arms around trying to explain, "I'm obviously named after someone's Grandma. I mean, what kind of name is 'Emma' anyway? I'm guessing you got the same short end of the stick with 'Maggie'. What gives?"

"Eh, sooooo not important right now, Ems. Let's go eat!" With that, she managed to brush my question off and unlock the front door all at the same time.

A guy who looked barely familiar took one look at us trying to take our snow-covered coats off and yelled out, "Well, look at what the cat dragged in. Granny! Maggie and Emma are here. Can we eat NOW?"

Granny came rushing into the living room that had been set up with extra tables and chairs to give us both a hug. "Good gracious, Jeffrey, the baby Jesus just woke up and started hollerin' at your impatience. Now, scoot on into the kitchen and bring out the ham while I grab the rolls."

"You two, sit, and stay put."

I looked at Maggie and whispered, "I think she was talking to us."

The meal that Granny had prepared turned out to to be one of the simplest but most delicious meal I could've ever dreamed of. She had pineapple and brown sugar baked ham, homemade mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, yeast rolls, cranberry sauce from a can because nobody wanted the real stuff, and a seven layer chocolate cake that made your tongue wanna slap your brain. It was all sooooooo good.

After dinner, we all cleared away the tables and chairs because it was time for Dance Dance Revolution. I had never even heard of this game much less knew how to play it. Jeffrey, who I later found out worked in the flooring department, brought his game station and all the things that went with this game so he was in charge of setting it up.

I made it perfectly clear to everyone there that I was not a dancer. But even lil ol' Granny said she always got into the spirit and gave it her best try so I had to suck it up and go balls to the wall. At that, the entire room went quiet until you could hear a pin drop. Everyone just stopped and stared at me before busting out laughing at the expression on my face. Apparently even Granny had a wicked sense of humor.

As the night wore on, I got better at this dancing game. We started dancing in pairs and Maggie and I started finding our groove and winning a few competitions. I hadn't had this much fun in a long time. Well, dancing fun anyway.

We were halfway into a particularly complicated dance routine on the Spaceborn level when Jeffrey starts clapping and yelling out a chant, "Go Magenta. Go Magenta. You got this. You got this!"

I'm trying to breathe through my nose while bustin' a move calling over my shoulder, "Who the hell is 'Magenta'?"

About that time our song ended and my dance partner goes into an impromptu split. "Yah, that'd be me."

I put my hands up in front of me and start shaking me head, "Magenta? Whoa. What? Maggie is short for Magenta? So, what, your parents named you after a paint swatch?"

The entire room starts howling at that little crack but Maggie isn't laughing just yet. Instead, she's still laid out on the floor in her impromptu split but she's looking up at me with this cringe-worthy expression as she whispers, "Umm...not exactly?"

"Not exactly. What does that even mea...oh HELL to the no! You're...nawwww."

She's biting her lip and wincing.

"Are you serious? They named you after a freaking crayon?" I wasn't even going to try to control the volume of my voice. This was too good. The next thing I knew, I was helping her up from the floor trying to stop the tears that were streaming down my face as I laughed.

Eventually she started laughing with us and the game just kindof stayed on pause for a second as we all shared laughter and tears.

I pulled her into a quick hug and then made an announcement. "Wellppp, Magenta is too weird. Maggie is too old for a fox like you. So, henceforth you shall forever be known as Red."

Everyone around us starting whistling and cat calling out her new nickname. She was grinning from ear to ear trying not to let the blush she had on her neck creep up to her face. After everything settled down, we went back to our dance-off.

Towards the end of the night, Granny and Jeffrey had fallen behind in our little competition and the winning title was either going to go to me and Maggie AKA Red or Dave, the loader, and this girl Maria who worked in Tool World.

Dave and Maria had finished their last song and it was up to me and Red to beat their score. Victory was just within reach. I didn't hear the doorbell but as we completed a rather complicated maneuver that had Red behind me with her hands on my hips as we bunny hopped, I looked up to see Regina glaring over at me.

I immediately stopped and Red bumped into me and started asking what the hell was wrong with me. She looked up to see Regina watching us and moved one of her hands up to wave hello. I stepped away from where we were pressed tightly together and shoved her other hand off of my hip before I went to catch up with Regina who was heading through the kitchen to the back door.

I was half jogging and out of breath once I caught up to her, "Hey. Whoa. What are you doing here? I thought you were at your parents vacation house."

She kept her back to me as she answered through gritted teeth, "I felt bad about not inviting you so I have been calling and texting all evening. We were making plans for my Mother's formal dinner party tomorrow night when I decided to come and invite you in person."

Then she whirled around, "Excuse me for interrupting your little soiree. I didn't realize you'd rather play bump n' grind with that little floozy instead of answering your phone!"

I stood there a little dumbfounded. "Ok, first of all, I didn't hear my phone. If I did, I would I have answered it. I always answer it when it's you. Second, I don't know what you think you saw in there but I'm getting the vibe that you're jealous."

I couldn't help but grin at her indignant response.

"I don't get jealous, Ms Swan. Even if I did, it would most certainly not be of you. Need I remind you that I am engaged?"

"Oh, no need to remind me of that. I see that damned rock on your hand every day."

I sighed, "Every single day."

We stood there with the snow falling around us while I watched her clench and unclench her fists that were hanging by her side. I approached her slowly while softly asking her why she was so worked up at seeing me dancing with Maggie.

She looked up at me with these big, beautiful sad eyes and shook her head telling me she honestly didn't know. I wanted to point out that if she was so happily engaged then the sight of me with someone else's arms holding onto my body wouldn't have affected her in the slightest but I could tell she wasn't quite ready to admit that conclusion was the correct one.

I walked up to her, wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me. She closed her eyes briefly before placing her shaking hands on the lapels on my shirt and started fiddling with them and brushing the light snowfall off before clearing her throat and asking me if I still wanted to leave with her.

I gently rubbed my thumbs over her hips through her jacket and grinned, "Always, Regina. You should know this by now. Always."

We walked back inside to grab my jacket and I hugged Granny. As I did, she pointed up to the sky. We were under the mistletoe. I laughed and kissed her on the cheek thanking her for a memorable Christmas Day.

As we walked outside, I could hear everyone calling out Merry Christmas and telling us to be careful. I opened Regina's car door for her and as she slid inside, our eyes met for a brief moment and it was then I truly felt like Christmas had came for me.

We pulled out of Granny's driveway waving goodbye to everyone and telling them we'd see them next year. An old joke but a good one. The night sky was black as tar but if you squinted you could see a star or two peeking through the snow flurries. I shut my eyes and made a wish on the one I could see the clearest. It wasn't a wish. No. It was a breath of thanks. I only had to turn my head to the left to see what had me communicating such a prayer.

**Reviews, people. See what they get you? Another chapter to give you something to read during the weekend :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy Once Day! I wanted to give you a bit of fluff before the next couple of chapters. Also, my heart breaks every time I see Regina in the promos! **

Our drive to her parents vacation home was spent in virtual silence until we were about five minutes away. I heard her sigh and tell me Daniel was going to be bringing Henry back tomorrow evening and staying for the dinner party. We always tiptoed around the subject of the douschebag and that was absolutely fine with me. I did know he was going to have Henry for a few days around Christmas but that Regina would get him back before New Year's Eve.

Even though Regina and Daniel were engaged, they acted more like a divorced couple who shared custody of Henry. Daniel was always on the road and never managed to be around for special occasions so it kindof suprised me that he would be around for this one. I mean, I know Christmas is a big holiday for kids but this guy never seemed to care the other 364 days of the year.

As she filled the last few minutes of our drive with info about Henry and Daniel, I learned Henry had asked to spend a couple of days with his dad so Regina had agreed. Once she got to her parent's vacation home and started the holiday celebrations, she second-guessed her decision. For the first time, she and Henry were not together for all the family traditions.

At the vacation home, they waited until the morning of the 25th to put the tree up and everyone just milled around in their pj's sipping hot cocoa and taking their time decorating the tree. They always built a fire and had Christmas songs playing and since Henry was the only kid in the family, he could usually be found taking lots of breaks to slide across the freshly polished floors in his favorite fuzzy socks.

I was starting to get the impression Regina had been calling and texting all day because she was lonely and was using the dinner party invitation as an excuse to reach out. Either way, I was glad we were finally together.

As we pulled up to the Mills vacation home, I saw it was more of a cabin but there were two parts to it. Regina pointed out that the main house was to the left and the large, glass structure next to it was the club house which had a banquet room, dance floor, and swimming pool that could be covered to give more dance floor if needed. Well, lemme take that back then. This wasn't no cabin!

I went around to help Regina out of the car and then closed my eyes just for a moment. The temperature was perfect. If you wanted to, you could see your breath when you exhaled, smell the wood burning from the fireplace inside, feel the small snow flurries cling to your eyelashes, and hear the slightest hum of music through the walls. It was hard to describe what I felt in that moment but I got this rush of excitement and I'm not even sure why.

I looked over to see Regina grinning at me and I returned her smile. I started to tell her thank you for inviting me here and immediately hit my forehead with my hand. "Awwww, man, I'm such a screw up."

"Ms Swan?"

"No, look, I forgot to bring your gifts. Well, two for you and one for Henry but now I don't have anything to give you. Can we just go back? It'll only take a sec."

She gestured around her at the snow which was starting to fall heavily. "Did I not come pick you up? You had no way of knowing you would be standing here right now. The packages can wait. As impatient as Henry is when it comes to gifts, knowing he has one from his favorite Bob the Builder will merely give him something to look forward to when we go back home. I refuse to risk your safety so you should calm down."

"Our safety." I growled.

"Mmmm. Let's go say hi to Mother, shall we?" With that, she looped her hand through my arm and we walked up the steps into the warmth welcoming us inside.

As soon as we stepped through the wide heavy oak doors, I instantly felt at home. It was like being whisked back to some ancient kingdom. Directly across from me was this massive fireplace that about 20 people could have stood inside. Minus the flames, of course. One entire wall was a huge window looking out to the forest which showed the trees with a heavy dusting of snow on them. To my left was the tallest Christmas tree I had ever seen that was flanked on either side by these huge, comfy looking chairs that looked more like thrones but on closer examination, they were just really pretty recliners.

At first glance, you think this house is inhabited by millionaires but once you pay a bit more attention, you could tell it was built over time by blue-collar people who were hard workers but knew how to spend money wisely. As Regina gave me a tour of the house, she told me about how her dad had worked two and three jobs her entire life trying to provide for their family but also to squirrel away a retirement fund for him and Momma Cora. They both worked as a team making sure all the girls had the proper education and learned the value of a dollar.

She also told me her dad was getting ready to retire in the next year and this place had been his pet project for a long time. When he did take that leap, they would be selling their other home and moving into this one full-time. Henry Sr liked to hunt and fish so retiring near the mountains was the icing on his retirement cake.

Speaking of cake, as we walked into the best smelling room of the house, Momma Cora caught sight of me and Regina and came running over to smother us with kisses that smelled of chocolate and carrot cake. I chuckled as she grabbed me and shook me from side to side in one of her anaconda hugs.

"Merry Christmas, Ma'am!" I said while hugging her back.

She pulled away from me and looked at me in horror before taking my chin in her hand and telling me that I was never to call her anything but Momma Cora like the rest of her children. I just nodded to let her know I understood before she glared at me before releasing my chin with a "Hmmmrmpf."

"Come on into the kitchen, Ems. I need you to put that Kracken stomach of yours to good use!"

I looked back at Regina and whispered, "You told her about the Kracken?"

"Well, of course she did, child. Apparently it's a bottomless pit which is gonna come in purty handy because I got a mess of stuff that's gotta be taste-tested. Get a move on! We don't have all night."

Regina just grinned and took a seat at the island in the middle of the kitchen where she could face the stove. The one spot she could see her mom torment me with tiny tastes of all of this delicious food that we couldn't dive into until the next night.

"Now, Ems, hey, get your finger out of that bowl. I've still gotta wash it. Now, here, taste this. What does that taste like to you?"

I took the outstretched spoon and put it in my mouth and my eyes rolled back in my head. I couldn't even speak. It was soooooo good. I finally swallowed. "Ok, what the heck WAS that because there's no way I'm waiting until tomorrow night to eat more of that!"

You could see this big ol' grin break out on Cora's face as she told me it was her own recipe for homemade chocolate truffles. "The question is: Do you think I should dip them in white chocolate, milk chocolate, or dark chocolate?"

I looked around to see three other voices drowning mine out as Tanya, Carla, and Regina disagreed about which coating would be the best. When did the other two show up?

That's when fierce Momma Cora came out. She stood with one hand on her hip while the other one waved around a wooden spoon. "I don't recall asking none of you to come into MY kitchen and tell me how I should cook MY desserts? Now go off and find something else to do besides bother a poor old woman."

We all moved towards the living room when she sighed. "Not you, Ems. Lordy be, get back here and tell me the truth and not what I want to hear."

I laughed and turned around to head back but Regina grabbed my arm and quickly leaned in to whisper, "Milk."

Well, I guess that solved the mystery on what I was going to tell her mom.

The rest of the night was spent tasting all sorts of delicious cakes, pies, and chocolate goodies. By the time everyone was ready to hit the hay, I knew I was ready to crash from a sugar high. Regina had spent the better part of the evening hanging out in Carla's room talking about the pregnancy and what color to paint the baby's room. Stuff like that. I was following Momma Cora up to the guest bedroom when Regina caught sight of me and offered to show me to my room.

Cora gave me another big hug goodnight and just stood and looked at Regina and I as we stood beside each other. She rested one hand on my right cheek and the other on Regina's left and just smiled softly as she whispered a private "Merry Christmas" to us before heading back down to her room.

I followed Regina up one more flight of steps before we came to the guest room. Leave it to Momma Cora to always have brand new sets of pj's on hand for visitors. While I went to use the bathroom and strip out of the clothes I had been wearing since early that morning, Regina went to find the pj's and a few toiletries for me.

I came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around me expecting to find all of my new things laying on my bed. Instead, I found them being held in the arms of one very suprised brown-eyed girl.

"Oh. Sorry. I thought...I thought you would just leave everything on the bed and I would change out here." I tightened my grip on the white towel around my body.

"The...I wasn't sure...there were different sizes..." Regina being flustered was one of the cutest things I had ever seen.

I pointed to one of the ones in her hands, "I'll take the blue medium ones. How's that?" I was trying to keep a straight face.

"Mmmm."

"Uh...Regina?"

"Yes?"

"My eyes are up here."

Her eyes snapped up once she realized where exactly she had been looking. She thumbed through the packages of pj's in her hands and quickly handed me the blue medium ones while trying to avoid my eyes.

"Breakfast is at 9am and Mother appreciates promptness. Would you like me to set your alarm or should I wake you?"

I rocked back and forth on my heels a few times and saw her nervously looking at the hem of the towel. "Ohhhhh, I think I'd much rather you come and wake me up. Maybe even go all Snow White since we're out here in the forest."

"If that's supposed to be some sort of dirty come on, you need to try harder. I have no idea what that even means. Now if you'll excuse me, I shall retire for the evening. Goodnight, Ms Swan."

"Night, Reggie." I called after her.

She never looked back as she replied, "We're still not doing that."

**A/N: The issue with Daniel will be resolved shortly. I do have quite a bit planned with them just here at the cabin. I wanted a bit of fluff before getting into some more emotional parts. Thank you to everyone who is sending me messages of encouragement and taking the time to write reviews. You guys are the reason the creative juices are still flowing! Two chapters over the weekend! Shocker!**

**Also, for the M rating: A few people have expressed concern that the story will be rushed now. I assure you, it will not. The M rating will be in the future but I cannot promise it will get here quickly. There will be some things leading up to that part. I merely wanted to know if everyone would be on board should I take the story UP to an M. Stay for the ride. I promise it'll be worth it ;)**

**Thanks again for weighing in on that issue. It got settled quickly.**


	11. Chapter 11

**BTW, I wrote this BEFORE watching OUAT that is sitting in my DVR. Now that it's finished, I'm off to eat some corn risotto and sniffle at Regina in pain. Look away. I'm hideous.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Here's Chapter 11 for free.**

As I slowly started coming into consciousness, I was aware of one thing: This room smelled freakin' awesome!

I was lying on my side with my back to the door but kept getting a whiff of chocolate. I could be dead and recognize that smell. I slowly opened one eye to seek out the source of the scent and saw my favorite brown-eyed girl standing by the bed grinning down at me.

I kept the one eye open and moved my head just a little to look around. "I smell chocolate."

She raised her eyebrows, "Are you going to wake up?"

I rolled over onto my back and stretched. "I can be persuaded."

She pulled the chocolate dipped truffle she had hidden behind her back and presented it with a steaming cup of coffee.

"Ohhhh. Now I could get used to waking up like this!" I said, trying to clear the deep sleepy voice coming from inside of me. I reached one arm out and made a grabbing motion towards the truffle but Regina kept it just out of reach and politely cleared her throat while making it a point to look at the bed.

I rolled my eyes, scooted over and sat up with my back against the headboard. Then, I patted the seat next to me. She handed the cup of coffee to me before crawling in to sit beside of me with our shoulders brushing each other. I took one sip and leaned my head back against the headboard with a sigh of content.

"Man, I don't know if it's the soft bed, fresh air, or coffee in bed but I am loving being on vacation right about now."

The bed moved ever so slightly as Regina chuckled and laid her head back next to mine. "I always find peace whenever we visit here. I hope it stays that way once my parents move here full-time. Everything is so...uncomplicated here."

I moved my head to the side to watch her close her eyes and take a deep breath. I smiled softly to myself. "Yeah, I know what you mean."

She opened her eyes and turned to stare back at me. In that moment, with the sunlight starting to stream through the big window in the bedroom, she had never looked more beautiful. Big brown eyes open and so clear you could see for miles when you look into them. Her hair was tousled from a good nights sleep in a way that made her adorable. There she was resting next to me in my bed while we're both wearing our pj's and looking at one another. She caught me looking at her lips and quirked her eyebrow. Hey, I'm only human.

I let her know that I saw her notice but went back to looking at her lips before slowly dragging my gaze back up to her eyes, "Sooooooo, about that chocolate..."

She sighed dramatically and handed the truffle to me. "Must everything come back to food with you?"

"Hey, I like to eat!"

"That's the understatement of the year."

I bit into the treat and moaned. "My. Gawd. This is heaven right here. Absolute heaven. I swear to god. Try this."

"I've eaten truffles before, Dear. My mother DID make them."

"Fine. fine. More for me." I didn't think she heard the next part because I was chewing the last of the ball of goodness. "I'dliketodipyouinchocolateandeatyou."

Her head whipped to the side, "What did you just say?"

I swallowed. "I said...more for me."

She narrowed her eyes, "After that."

I figured there was two ways to play this so I went for the least obvious one which was, well, lying. "I clearly said, 'last night you raped me with your eyes'."

Her mouth dropped open and she just looked at me.

I casually took a sip of coffee and shrugged, "We gotta talk about it, Regina. Gotta happen."

I was trying not to laugh because her mouth was still frozen in that big O shape. She was slightly shaking her head trying to come up with something to say so I decided to help her out.

I leaned close to her and winced, "I felt dirty, Regina. Your eyes were pretty...(pause for effect)...probing."

I leaned back into my spot and took another sip of coffee waiting for the inevitable sputtering. Yep. Just...about...now.

"Probing? MY eyes were probing? You felt...YOU felt dirty? I don't even know what to say to that!" Her arms were gesturing a mile a minute to keep up with her ramblings.

"Do you have any idea how many times I have looked up to see you leering at me? You're...you're like a Neanderthal choosing a fresh piece of meat. I'm surprised sometimes when you don't hit me over the head with your club and drag me back to your cave!"

I shrugged, "Ooga, ooga"

As much as she was trying to be indignant, her mouth started working its way into one of those smiles that you can't hide no matter how hard you try. The next moment we were both laughing so hard it was shaking the bed and threatening to spill my coffee. She took the cup from me and sat it on the nightstand.

Our laughter eventually wound down and we just sat there in comfortable silence. I had to get one last tease in, though. "For the record, it's not actual leering per se. I just happen to find you attractive. And before you can deny it, last night...oh man, let's just say my boobs were staring at your eyes and leave it at that."

She glanced sideways at me but kept quiet. I think she figured out I was telling her something she always told me when she caught me mesmerized by her chest.

About that time I glanced at the clock. "Whoa. I thought breakfast was at 9? Why does my clock say 7:30am?"

She started biting her lip, "Oh. Well. I couldn't sleep and I thought you might be up. After I bribed you with chocolate. And coffee."

I rolled my neck to pop it and scooted down under the covers. "Obviously you know my kryptonite."

She looked over at me with a small smile and I tugged her down to lie on her side facing me before pulling the cover up to her shoulders.

"So, why couldn't you sleep? Henry on your mind?"

She nodded and closed her eyes, "I always worry when he goes off with Daniel. His father isn't the most reliable parent and has made questionable decisions when Henry has been with him."

I reached over to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear before reminding her Henry would be back home this evening for the party. The 'thank you' was so soft I barely caught it. I laid on my side watching her for a few moments before her eyes opened and fastened on mine. I smiled. She smiled.

She looked at the space between us and saw my hand resting there. I kept it still as she started absently running her small fingers across my knuckles and the back side of my palm. I was afraid that if I spoke, it would ruin the moment and she would stop. So I just watched her pale fingers moving back and forth across my skin. Almost as if her skin was whispering deep secrets to mine.

She broke the silence first, "Can we talk about it now?"

She must've looked up to see the confused expression on my face because she quickly amended her previous statement, "How you knew you liked females."

I chuckled. "Females? Wow. That sounds so clinical. Usually I just say I was a teenager when I figured out I liked to kiss girls."

"Because that's the mature way of starting this conversation." Her dry humor shone through as her hand slipped so that our fingers were laced.

"Well, I was 15. I didn't really have alot of friends because I moved from school to school depending on which foster family I was staying with. But at 15, I had a family that I stayed with for two years. That was a big deal. To be somewhere that long."

I paused remembering what it felt like to actually be in one place that long and felt Regina's grip on my hand tighten ever so slightly in encouragement. So, I continued.

"Her name was Kim. For the longest time, whenever my foster parents would ask me about who I was interested in, I called her 'Tim' because I didn't want them knowing it was a girl. We were on the school's basketball team together and this particular season, we were doing really good so we had some tournaments to travel to. We were best friends at the time and the Coach assigned us to the same hotel room."

I grinned sheepishly remembering the next part.

"Fast forward to us being there at the hotel together with a bunch of connecting rooms. We got tired of the other girls running in and out of our room so we locked the connecting door. Kim said she was going to take a shower and I turned the tv on. Now, I thought she was really pretty. I mean like really pretty but at 15, I wasn't aware that I was attracted to her. Yes, she was pretty and yes, I liked spending time with her but...eh, it's hard to explain."

"Anyway, the bathroom door opens and she comes out in her pj's. I couldn't tell you what was playing on the tv anymore because when she opened the bathroom door to walk out, her shower gel or body wash or shampoo, whatever the combination was, that smell spread through the entire hotel room and I immediately recognized the signs. Yep. Emma Horny."

Regina laughed softly and turned my hand over to run her fingers across my palm.

"Lemme tell you, I was scared outta my mind because I didn't know how to process that. Of course, then everything she said had a double meaning and I was trying to act normal but I couldn't even concentrate on what she was saying because my heart was pounding so hard. The next thing I knew, she climbed into my bed and snuggled in to watch tv with me. It shouldn't have been a big deal, right? I mean, we'd done that a ton of times at her house or mine. Yeaaaaah, this time was different."

"Everywhere she rubbed against me felt like fire dancing across my skin. So, the tv show ended and I turned the tv off. Well, she just curled up on her side next to me like it was the most normal thing in the world. I just kindof sat there for a bit, not knowing what to do. Finally, I laid down behind her and tried to keep my distance. She ended up scooting back until we were against each other and reached back for my arm to wrap it around her stomach."

Regina's motions on my palm stilled as she softly whispered, "And then?"

"And then...the best thing that had happened to me up until that point in my life happened. We laid there for a few minutes and I felt her shivering. But it wasn't cold. The tighter I wrapped my arm around her, the harder she shook. I asked her if she was alright and just when I thought she wasn't going to answer, she twisted my world upside down and inside out because she told me she thought she wanted me to kiss her but she was scared because she didn't want to make me mad."

Regina grinned and bit her lip. I don't think she realized her nails were digging into my palm as she gripped in anticipation. "Did you?"

I nodded, "You know how when you're younger and all of your friends are talking about how awesome kissing is and then you do it and think there's something wrong with you because you don't see what the big deal is? Well, when I kissed her, I immediately knew what the big deal was about. It was absolutely amazing. I knew then and there that I only ever wanted to kiss girls. The few guys I had kissed were blech. Nothing compared to her kiss."

Regina sighed softly, "It sounds terribly romantic."

I just nodded in agreement. We laid there until the sun was completely out. The rays washing over us as we laid side by side savoring the warmth of the moment. I don't remember how much time passed but reluctantly it was coming to a close because we could hear dishes rattling around in the kitchen. I wanted to ask her about her first kiss or any of them, really, but I guess whatever was meant to be said had already been verbalized.

As she moved to get out of bed, her fingers started slipping from my grasp. I quickly grabbed the tips and brought them up to my lips before softly kissing each fingertip. I looked up to find those same big brown eyes openly searching my face. I slowly lowered her hand and thanked her for bringing me coffee and chocolate.

As she started walking out of my bedroom door, I noticed she walked slower. Maybe more contemplative. Her head was down and I saw her thumb absently running back and forth across the fingers that had just been pressed against my lips.

She slipped out of view and I clasped my hands behind my head and looked up at the ceiling. It wasn't the soft bed or the fresh air or even the coffee in bed. The part about being on vacation that I was loving the most was knowing my favorite brown-eyed girl was just on the other side of the house.

**A/N: Thank you all, again, for all of the encouragement. I try to respond as quickly as I can to let you know you are seen and appreciated. I wanted to get the next couple of chapters just right before posting them. I started writing this one early this morning and it just came together sooner than I thought. This one was important because I wanted Emma's story to be sweet but not pervy. Yeah. You heard me. I'm saving all sorts of pervy for future chapters. Be warned. However, I hope you all will guard your hearts in the next chapter because Daniel reappears. With that being said, here's a few mentions I wanted to give:**

**For Kokomargoan: Here's your interaction ;)**

**For all of the Guest Reviewers: I wish I could respond to ya'll and let you know how much I appreciate everything you have to say so hopefully this is a way for me to do that! Thank you! **

**For Emily (Guest Reviewer) OMG I literally check every day to see if there is an update, too! J/K. I write a little every day though. Does that count?**

**Thanks again for everyone who takes the time to drop me a pm or write a review! It keeps me working. My fingers are nubs now ;)**


	12. Chapter 12

Breakfast had whizzed by in a blur and lunch wasn't even something we stopped for because everyone was so busy trying to help Cora and Henry get everything setup for the party. Actually, I take that back. Cora was delegating and Henry was doing. We were all doing whatever we could to get things crossed off the To-Do list. As the first guest started arriving, I had a mini-panic attack because I didn't have any clothes to wear. Since Regina had picked me up at Granny's, I had worn pj's that Cora had stashed away for guests as well as plain old white undies that looked like something an old woman would wear. Just as I said that it made sense, considering who probably purchased them.

Regina's baby sister, Tanya, had kidnapped me from helping Henry put the last of the tablecloths on before the guests could make it into the banquet room. She had taken me upstairs to her room and showed me all sorts of clothes that I could pick from since we were roughly the same size. I swear the girl had Cora's blood running through her veins with the way she talked a mile a minute.

As we thumbed through her closet, I asked her if she had any plans for college and she told me she had received a scholarship towards her first two years but that she planned on transferring to a medical school out-of-state to get her degree in ophthalmology. I listened to her talk about her dreams of traveling overseas and working with Doctor's Without Borders. It was amazing how this 18-year-old had the next decade of her life planned out. She was one smart cookie.

We finally found a simple black pantsuit with a silver shell to wear underneath it. It wasn't too fancy but just fancy enough for the dinner party. She found some plain black pumps that actually fit me pretty good and I was set. I thanked her for helping me out and she just smiled and gave me a big hug telling me how glad she was that I was there. Her hug made me feel loved and shy all at the same time.

I excused myself to head down to the guest room to get ready. I started some music playing on my phone and hopped in the shower. I didn't have alot of time since people were already arriving so I had to hurry.

I decided to towel dry my hair and do a quick blow dry and just let it fall around my shoulders. It looked pretty good against the black of the suit so I was happy. With one last check to make sure everything was zipped and tucked in, I headed downstairs to find Regina.

As I made my way through the crowd, various people nodded and said Hello. I had no clue who they were but I was polite. The banquet room was filled with serving tables filled to the brim with all of Momma Cora's goodies. All of the dining tables had been set against the back wall but you could see the gorgeous flower arrangements and colorful place cards from across the room. I'd say all in all there were about 35 people there. I noticed alot of them were older so I assumed they were family friends who had been around for a while.

I saw Carla next to another Christmas tree with a crowd of ladies around her all waiting for their turn to rest their hand on her stomach hoping to feel a kick. You could tell the moment the baby moved because you could hear shrieks all the way over to where I was standing. Carla looked up and saw me watching them and just shook her head laughing. She mouthed 'crazy' and I nodded and moved into the next room.

I expected to smell chlorine but when the swimming pool came into view, Regina was standing next to it and I forgot what I was supposed to be thinking. Her back was to me and at first glance I thought her dress was that sparkly material that seemed to change colors depending on which way you looked at it, but I quickly figured out the rippling of the water was making waves all across her deep maroon gown.

She looked up and caught my reflection in the wall of windows surrounding us and turned around. The dress hung all the way to the floor and I had a clear view of some serious skin since the dress was sleeveless and cut low. I found myself telling my brain to breathe because all I had ever seen her in were shorts or slacks with work shoes. Now, here she was in a gown that did nothing to hide her natural beauty. Her brown-hair was tucked behind one ear and small teardrop shaped diamond earrings hung from pale lobes. I take back everything I had ever said. Today was my favorite day in my entire life. Hands down.

I moved towards her and stopped just before reaching her to lean in and give her a quick kiss on the cheek before whispering so only she could hear me, "I'm glad these four walls are made of glass because nobody should be denied a view like the one I have right now."

She blushed and ducked her head down before telling me I looked nice, too. I was just about to ask her if she wanted to move to the dance floor down at the far edge of the pool house but as she looked up, her smile faltered as her gaze caught something behind me.

I turned around to see Daniel walking into the room slapping one of his buddies on the back with one hand while holding a drink in the other. Her eyes narrowed as she excused herself. The next thing I knew, she had walked up to Daniel and after a bit of coaxing, they had walked over to a corner where he started gesturing wildly. I could tell by the pinched look on her face that whatever they were talking about wasn't pleasant.

My knee-jerk reaction was to rush over to make sure she was ok but I felt a tug on my jacket and looked down to see a smiling, small, dark-haired boy looking up at me. "Hi Emma!"

I leaned down just a bit to pick him up and place him on one hip. "Well, hello there, Mr Mills. Man, you are looking saawwweeeeet in that tie. Who is that? Santa?"

He reached for his tie and lifted it up so I could see it better. "Mhmmm. It's my lucky tie. Santa brought it to me for Christmas so now I want to wear it all the time but Mommy said I could only wear it until the first of the year."

The sadness in his voice was breaking my heart. "Awww, I bet if we both look really sad like cute little puppies she'll let you wear it for a bit longer than that. Whaddya think?"

At that his ears perked up and his eyes got wide "We could do that? Together?"

"Sure, bud. Who can say no to you and Bob the Builder? I mean, come ON. Look at us!"

He laughed and threw his arms around my neck before scrambling down and heading off. Presumably to tell his Grandpa his evil plan. The kid shared anything and everything with the older Henry.

My eyes found Regina just as she was finishing her conversation and heading back to me. "Everything ok?"

Her voice was clipped as she told me that no, in fact, everything was not ok. Daniel was a recovering alcoholic who thought he could handle that one drink every now and then. But his one drink always had a way of turning into more than that and then he turned into a man even his own mother wouldn't recognize.

She told me she went over to remind him that his son was present but he had already had more than a few in him and proclaimed to her as well as the few people within earshot that he knew what he was doing. I took her by the arm and started leading her back into the banquet room where the safety of familiar, friendly guests were when we heard a scream.

We both turned around just in time to see a very drunk Daniel throw Henry into the 12 foot section of the pool. Beside me, Regina stood frozen in time watching the scene in some horrible slow-motion. It took half-a second for me to look up at Daniel and hear him laughing while saying something like "He'll learn to swim the way I did" for me to realize the boy sinking to the bottom had no way of rescuing himself.

It took four running strides for me to reach the edge of the pool and dive cleanly into the water. As I kicked down, my eyes took in the panic written all over the face of the four year old just out of my grasp. As he fell deeper, he reached out for me. I felt like my heart was going to explode but it had nothing to do with needing air. It seemed like forever before my hands wrapped around his waist and I lunged for the surface.

We both broke through gasping for air and I pulled him up onto my chest as I kicked over to where a waiting Regina was already reaching for him. I pushed him up to her before pulling myself up over the edge. She was busy checking his body for signs of injury and the crowd around us was getting louder and louder. I picked him up and put him in her arms and grabbed her face in both of mine.

"Regina. Listen to me. Take him upstairs, get him out of those clothes and into something warm. You understand?"

Henry was gasping for air as tears were running down his face and I barely caught her 'yes' before he buried his head in her neck and started sobbing. I gently pushed her towards the door and caught Momma Cora running into the pool house. Apparently word had just reached her about what had happened. Cora took one look at me standing there drenched from head to toe with water coursing down my hair into my face and answered the silent plea on my face with a quick nod as she took Regina by the elbow and led her upstairs.

I stood there trying to catch my breath and reminding myself that Henry was ok when from behind me I heard Daniel laughing.

I whirled around and stalked towards him with the crowd parting once they figured out where I was headed.

My open wet palms collided with his chest as I shoved him back towards the wall of glass behind him. "You think that was funny? You almost killed him!"

The incredulous look on his face made me wanna bury him and spit on his grave. "Look, lady, I don't know what you saw but I saw my son starting to learn to swim before you dove in and stopped him."

I snarled and shoved him again. "He was drowning, you drunken little prick. I was _saving_ him."

This guy had the nerve to straighten up and raise his arm to hit me when I snapped his arm behind his back. gripped the hair on the back of his head, and started pushing him towards the door. There wasn't a person in the room who tried to stop me. In fact, a couple of people clapped and whistled.

We got to the front of the banquet room and out of nowhere, Henry Sr came from behind me and opened the front door. I pushed Daniel outside and let go of his wrist. He stumbled trying to get his footing which was probably a combination of the alcohol and the amount of force I threw him away from me.

He immediately started complaining that he knew what was best for his kid and how dare I throw him out of a party thrown by his family, blah, blah, blah. The water dripping off of my clothes started to turn into little icicles and my feet were starting to get numb standing out on the driveway. I was just about to give him another piece of my mind when another voice was heard.

"You're not family anymore, son. Now, take your leave. You're not wanted nor needed here tonight."

We both slowly turned to hear the quiet, steady voice of Henry Sr.

The look on Daniel's face was one of shock and disbelief. I nodded slowly as I turned to walk back into the house. With the closing of the door, the bad news of the evening was left outside to find his way home. I knew we hadn't heard the last of him since he had rights to the small boy upstairs but I knew there wasn't a judge alive who wouldn't listen to this story. Whatever battle needed to be fought would be fought but for now, that was the farthest thing from my mind.

I started to walk towards the stairs but stopped and rushed back to envelop the elder Mills man in a huge hug. I knew I was soaking wet but somehow I wanted him to know just how relieved I was to have him take up for Regina and Henry. I wanted him to know how much I appreciated him taking a stand and making sure Henry wouldn't have to see the monster who taunted him for at least tonight. I wanted him to feel all of that through the first hug that we shared. I felt his hands rest on my back before he tightly pressed them to my skin. I got it. He got it. We were good.

I pulled back to see big tears in the same brown eyes he shared with my two loves. I squeezed both of his biceps gently before whispering, "Thanks, Papa Henry."

With that, I couldn't wait any longer to get upstairs. My heart was pounding as I took the stairs two at a time, leaving a wet trail in my path. As I pushed open the door to Regina's bedroom, I saw Momma Cora bent over the bed brushing kisses over Henry's face as his sobbing came to an end. She looked up at me and smiled. I found my heart was in my throat at the sight of Regina and Henry curled on the big bed all the way over on the other side of the room. Regina's eyes never left Henry's face.

My feet wanted to move but I was afraid of interrupting. Cora brushed one last kiss to Henry's forehead, squeezed Regina's shoulder and padded over to me before pulling me outside the doorway. Before I could speak, she wrapped her arms around me and paid no attention whatsoever to the puddle we were leaving on her carpet.

She pulled back and cupped my face in both of her hands with tears streaming down her face. "Ooooh child. Thank you. If it wasn't for you..."

I just nodded and she knew I understood. She started brushing water off of my shoulders and pushing my hair back from my forehead. All while crying and trying to speak. I grabbed her hands and held them in both of mine and we just stood there trying to process what had happened.

Finally, she spoke. "He's gone?"

I blew out a breath and nodded, "Henry told him not to come back."

She nodded while rubbing my hands furiously, "Go on back in and take a shower. I'll bring your clothes and put them on the sink."

I hooked my thumb over my shoulder to remind her that was Regina's shower and she put her hand up, "They need you, Emma. You stay in there tonight. Don't go arguing with an old Momma bear."

I leaned up and gave her a quick peck on the cheek before sliding in through the door and heading towards the shower. Before I closed the bathroom door, I turned to take in the sight of the two figures on the bed. Regina had her back to me but I could see her arm was curled around the little bundle I knew to be the little boy resting beside of her.

My head leaned against the door frame as I gave a silent prayer of thanks for whomever was listening for keeping them both in my life. I had grown so attached to both of them in such a short amount of time that I couldn't imagine my life without them now.

**A/N: So, I wanted something big to happen and I wanted it to involve Henry. Hopefully this conveyed what I wanted to get across. Emma is still the Savior in this story even though it is A/U. Little Henry is growing on her even though she hasn't been around many kids in her adult life. Now that this drama has taken place, what's in store for our girls? Hmmm? Well, you're just going to have to stay tuned to find out :)**

**Thank you to everyone who takes the time to send a bit of encouragement either via pm or reviews. I'm so amazed at how much everyone is enjoying this fic. It gives me major feels, people. Speaking of feels, if you get that ooey gooey feeling in your gut for someone special, you might want to let them know by giving them chocolate and coffee in bed. But if they hate coffee and are allergic to chocolate, rethink your strategy and slow your roll. Ayep.**

**This was updated a day before I thought it would be as an early birthday present to Volerian. HBD!**


	13. Chapter 13

I showered as quickly as I could. By the time I stepped out of the shower and into the main part of the bathroom, my pj's were lying on the counter next to the sink. I found myself grinning just thinking about the ferocious but caring woman who had laid them there. I toweled off and slipped into them before drying my hair as best as I could. Then, I reached over and turned the bathroom light off before opening the door to the bedroom.

Regina's room had the same huge wall of windows facing the forest as mine did. Much like the sun had shone down on her earlier that morning, the moonlight graced the big bed bathing her and the small boy beside her in soft, pale rays.

I walked around to the other side of the bed and stood silently for just a moment before Regina lifted up her head to stare at me. The normally wide brown eyes that could express so much with just a glance were pained and fragile and hidden behind a waterfall of tears. Her left hand raised from its home around Henry's stomach to reach for me.

As her fingers gripped mine and pulled me onto the bed, I heard a sob escape her throat. I laid out beside Henry and slipped my left hand around the top of his head to rub Regina's hair trying to soothe her as best I could. We laid like that for awhile until her crying subsided and she released my hand to wipe her face. I looked behind me and reached my arm back trying to reach the box of tissues that I'm betting Momma Cora left on the nightstand. I grabbed a few and handed them to Regina. For some reason, that made her start sniffling again.

I tried to avert my eyes to give her a semblance of privacy but that was difficult considering we were all sandwiched in the same bed. After she wiped her eyes and blew her nose, she laid her head back down and I resumed my position of stroking her hair. She laid there with her eyes closed trying to calm her breathing. She would occasionally sigh and move her head just a bit closer to my hand encouraging me to continue. My eyes never closed. I was too busy glancing between her and the boy between us.

As my eyes roamed over Henry's face, I took in the puffy red-rimmed eyes and could just make out the discolorations on his face where tears had slid down his cheeks and dried. Before I could stop my movements, I reached up and brushed some stray hairs away from his forehead. The image of that same face looking up at me in horror and panic as he sank deeper into a watery suffocation caused this lump in my throat that wouldn't go away.

As I swallowed and tried to stop the tears from falling from my own eyes, he opened his and softly grinned up at me. "Emma."

I cleared my throat and tried to control the shaking in my voice as I whispered, "Heya bud. You feeling ok?"

He nodded and snuggled deeper between me and Regina. I tried to move away just a bit to give him some room but apparently he wanted the closeness. He needed to feel safe.

I knew this because his little hand came up over the quilt covering him and grabbed mine before pulling it snug across his belly and held it there. So, I scooted back into my spot and Regina and I kept him tightly between us trying to make him feel secure.

As he drifted off to sleep, I heard him whisper something.

"What was that bud?"

"I said it was my tie."

"Your tie? I'm not sure I know what you mean, bud."

As he faded away to dreamland, I saw him smile as he reminded me, "You caught me in time 'cause I had my lucky tie on."

I leaned over and kissed his forehead as I agreed, "Yeah bud. It was definitely your lucky tie. Get some rest. Mommy and I will be right here."

He tightened his grip on my hand across his belly as his head burrowed against the crook of Regina's arm. We both watched him until his breathing evened out and sleep took over. I caught myself looking at where his tiny hand rested over mine and was amazed at just how small he was. It made the bile rise up in my throat as I thought about how quickly this precious little boy was almost ripped from our lives by a heartless monster who was the epitome of a sorry parent. This is why some people should never procreate. But, if it wasn't for him, Henry wouldn't exist so I had to focus on the positives.

Henry was safe and sound and Daniel was long gone. All that mattered now was this moment, with these two people who I had unknowingly crafted my world around. I closed my eyes briefly to center myself and took a deep breath. As I held that breath for a beat, I felt a hand slip over mine and Henry's.

My eyes opened and focused on the brown ones staring at me with an expression I couldn't quite identify. There was so much that I wanted to say, so many emotions I wanted to express but as those soft lips curved up into one of her special smiles reserved just for me, I knew she understood most of what was going unsaid for the night. Tonight, words would fail us. It was our actions that spoke for the beating hearts lying just beneath our chests.

I watched her until her eyes closed for the last time and the exhaustion of the day won out. Finally, she succumbed to the same sleep Henry had. Her fingertips were resting on the back of my hand and occasionally, I would feel them slightly move as whatever dream she was having caused her body to react in minute ways.

I'm not sure how long I laid there but for some reason, I didn't want to go to sleep. Here in the quiet hours of the night, I watched over the two people beside me. Life had a funny way of throwing you curveballs. If someone had told me a year ago I would feel this way about a woman and her son, I would've laughed in their face. But as my blinking grew slower and my eyelids grew heavy, I had to admit that I rather enjoyed this particular curveball. It brought this warm, full feeling to my heart.

It's true what they say. Whoever these 'they' people are. You never know what a day may bring. I woke up with Regina in my bedroom and fell asleep in hers. Everything that happened in-between was amazing and horrendous but life was amazing and horrendous. We cannot control what happens any more than we can stop time from ticking away. What we can do is handle each moment as they come and merely hold on for the ride.

**A/N: I have worked on this chapter for a couple of days trying to get it exactly where I wanted it. I believe it's finally there. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and messaged! Just when I need a boost or have a mental block, someone will say something that warms my heart and boom, mental block gone :)**

**Congratulations to _caliclair_ who was the 100th reviewer for this story. I have received her prompt and will be posting a one-shot sometime in the future for her. *collective oooh's and aahh's***

**mudpiegirl: Yes, everything will be explained in time. I want this story to span a few years so Emma and Regina will be having chats in the future as they continue to learn about each other. One of the things they will discuss is Regina's long engagement and why her and Daniel never got around to getting married. No worries!**

**Stormbeat: Although I'm uneasy with you losing sleep, your review made me smile! Thanks for reading.**

**Trouble with Trebels: I wish there was an award for the review that made me laugh the hardest!**

**Thank you to everyone who stops to take a minute out of their day to let me know their thoughts on each chapter. This fandom is filled to the brim with wonderful people and, for me with this story, my cup runneth over.**


	14. Chapter 14

The next couple of days were spent cleaning up from the formal party. Henry Sr and I were the pack mules. After everyone else dismantled everything and packed it up, we were in charge of carrying the tables and packed boxes upstairs to the finished attic. The task was so mundane and ordinary but I had never had this level of normalcy in a family setting. There wasn't a whole lot of talking between me and big Papa but it was crazy how we seemed to ease into a routine of grabbing tables, grunting, shaking our heads at one another and heading back up the stairs to drop off our load.

Earlier that day, Tanya and Cora had went into town for a few groceries for our New Year's family dinner. We also needed snacks to watch the ball drop on tv later that night so they went to load up. Tanya had came back with a two pack of white tank tops which were men's undershirts. I was happy to have something similar to what I normally wore so I didn't care one bit.

I went upstairs to change and slipped into Regina's room to use her bathroom. I could've used mine but hers was filled with her scent and as crazy as that sounds, it made me happy to even be able to smell her when she wasn't around.

When I came out of the bathroom, dressed in my newest clothing acquisition, Regina was standing in the middle of her bedroom opening a small step ladder. Apparently one of her light bulbs had blown and she was trying to replace it. Silly femme. Didn't she know that's what she had me for?

I walked over and handed her a light bulb and pointed up. She held it in one hand and started to move towards the ladder but I put my hands on her hips and casually mentioned I had a better way. Before she could question, I tightened my grip and slowly started lifting her off of the ground. She grabbed my left shoulder as she gasped. I don't think she knew whether to look down at me or up to see if she could reach the light fixture.

She strained to reach up far enough and quickly screwed in the light bulb before bringing her other hand down to rest on my right shoulder. When she was finished, I gently started lowering her down. I stopped once we were eye level but kept her feet just above the ground. Our bodies were pressed flush together but she leaned back just a bit to run her eyes over my arms. I could see the vein in her neck pulsing wildly as she started slowly sliding her hands over my shoulders and down over my biceps.

I didn't have to see her hands to know those brown eyes were watching her fingers splay out across the thin layer of wetness that had gathered over the bare muscle bunched there. I could feel the tips of her fingers rubbing against the strained tendons. I saw her swallow hard as her eyes closed and she dug her fingernails into the hardness holding her up. My grip around her waist tightened and her mouth flew open in a soft moan. I could hear her breathing change as her fingers dug harder into my biceps.

Without thinking, I tugged her waist up slightly and heard her take a couple of short breaths. Our stomachs were pressed against each other and I could feel her abdomen tighten as she starting lifting her feet off the floor. Inch by inch she lifted them until she had wrapped her legs around my waist and locked her heels behind my back.

Her head dropped forward until her forehead rested against mine. She wasn't even trying to hide the shallow breaths she was taking. My hands slid down to cup her ass and pull her to me until there was nowhere else she could go. When she squeezed her legs around me in response, my mouth dropped open and I caught her breath as I inhaled sharply.

Her breath was hot as it hit my lips. Her fingers left my biceps and moved slowly across my shoulder. She started dragging her fingernails across my neck at which point I growled and felt her mouth drop down until it hovered over mine. I closed my eyes to match hers. I didn't need to see in this moment. I wanted to just feel her. I wanted to block out the world and only focus on her.

Her fingernails traced a path up until those pale fingers slid around to the back of my neck and under my hair. I was having trouble holding her up because my knees were starting to give out on me. I walked us forward towards the door and pressed her back against it. It was a little rougher than I anticipated but as soon as her back slammed against the door, she groaned loudly and grabbed the underside of my hair and pulled my mouth onto hers.

There was nothing sweet and gentle about this kiss. I had told myself when we had our first kiss that I would go slow but when she sucked my bottom lip into her mouth, all bets were off. Her mouth was devouring mine. Our kisses were firm and wet because every time one kiss ended, it only fueled the fire for another one that was harder and more insistent.

She bit the corner of my bottom lip and I growled so loudly I thought someone would hear us. She pulled back just a little until our lips were separated by a thin layer of hot air, allowing me to catch my breath. Every time she inhaled, her lips brushed against mine. We stayed like that for a few beats until I moved my hands.

One hand rested on the small of her back while the other one gripped her thigh. Every time she clenched her legs around my waist, I could feel the movement under my palm. I think she was trying to pause and regain some control over her body but it wasn't working.

To test my theory, I gently slipped my tongue out to lick the middle of her bottom lip. She immediately brought her other hand up to fist in my hair and the moment she pulled it, I leaned in and slammed her head against the back of the door as my tongue invaded her mouth. She was whimpering and moaning as my tongue slid against hers in this glorious battle for dominance that neither one of us cared who won.

Suddenly, we heard someone bounding up the stairs heading straight for Regina's room. We broke apart and she quickly unhooked her legs from my waist and slid to the floor. We both looked over at each other and she leaned forward and rubbed her thumb over my lips trying to clean off the smeared lipstick that had been transferred to me. I gave her a soft smile and she bit her lip while grinning.

We looked up just in time to see Tanya running in to tell us the ball was about to drop and we needed to get into the den. She stopped, looked from me to Regina, smirked and pointed to Regina's lips. In our haste, I had forgotten to check Regina's lipstick.

Her eyes widened as she started wiping at her lips with her fingers while looking at her sister. Tanya just looked at me and winked and told us to try to find our way downstairs in the next 5 minutes. She sauntered out of the room chuckling and shaking her head.

"Did she just..." I didn't even have a chance to finish my question.

"Yank us out of the closet? Yes, Dear. It would appear that way."

"So, you were in the closet, Ms Mills?" I teased.

I saw the smile on her face falter a bit as she tried to think of a reply, "I...I'm not..."

I walked the two steps over to where she had jumped and took her hand. "It's ok, Regina. We don't need to talk about it now. I'd kindof like to just enjoy the moment we just had soooooo, let's just focus on that."

She squeezed my hand and leaned forward to softly press her lips to mine before pulling away. Those beautiful brown eyes looked up at me through lowered lashes as she was suddenly hit with a bout of shyness, "I can do that now?"

What she saw was me grinning like a fool. "You can do that now."

As we headed back downstairs to ring in the new year, Regina slipped her hand into mine only to release it just before we walked into where the entire family had gathered. We sat on the couch with Henry sandwiched between us. The countdown to the ball dropping had started.  
In the next 60 seconds, my eyes moved across the room as I took in how Papa Henry and Momma Cora were sitting on the love seat with his arm around the back of her head as she laid her hand on his leg. Such a sweet gesture between people who understood intimacy should never grow cold no matter how many years you had shared together.

Regina's two sisters were sitting in recliners beside of each other. I thought of how this time next year Tanya might be away at college and Carla would have brought a new being into this world. The year would be bringing alot of changes for everyone but the ones I was invested in were the changes regarding the family sitting in this room.

I looked over to see Regina staring at me as the countdown his 3...2...1. She smiled at me and I winked back. We mouthed Happy New Year to each other. Henry happened to look up and craned his neck to look back and forth between the two of us as his hands fidgeted with a certain green dragon that sported a tail held on with clear tape.

We both looked at him and leaned down at the same time to place kisses on either side of his head. He giggled and started bopping his head in time to the music now blaring from the tv screen while making the dragon dance in the air. The moment was one I wanted to freeze and replay over and over in my head. For the first time, I was starting my new year with people I cared about. The best part was I knew they cared about me as well.

Tradition says that you should start your new year doing the one thing you wanted to do for the rest of the year. Well, if that was the case, then I was definitely doing just that. Woman, check. Child, check. Dragon, check.

**A/N: Here's your first T rated kiss. Now, I'm going to answer your first question before you can even ask it. Will this open the doors for them to have hawtness times now? Yes and No. Keep in mind that as far as we know, Regina has never kissed a girl up until this moment. Just because they shared one kiss does not mean they are going to jump into bed together or have long, glorious make-out sessions. If you want to continue with a story that has a molasses fueled romance, then keep reading this one. If you want a fic where it's now wham, bam, thank you ma'am, then you might want to look elsewhere. I wanted to tie in their first kiss to the beginning of a new year. There's alot of parallels and metaphors for their lives in that statement so interpret that however you like.**

**As always, thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story and encouraged me through pm and reviews. I want to give trophies to each of you for being THE best readers out there! My heart thanks you for the warmth :)**

**To shocky808-Thank you for ****_patiently_**** waiting. *grin***

*****Guest reviewer note: I have no way of responding to this unless I edit this chapter and put a note at the bottom. But your review warranted that. I never mean for anything any character says or does to be perceived as sexist. The reasoning behind Emma opening Regina's car door or making a remark in her head about a light bulb is this: Every character in this story has aspects of their FTL alter ego. Emma is known as the White Knight or Savior so I write her doing things that walk the line between what people perceive to be female or male tendencies. Emma is chivalrous. Her behavior will reflect that. It's my way of bringing FTL into this AU. Opening a car door for Regina is Emma's way of taking care of her. It is in no ways meant to be stereotypical or sexist. Thank you for the review and for pointing out something that needed clarifying.**


	15. Chapter 15

Nobody likes when vacations end. Normally I wouldn't mind but getting to spend almost my entire 9 days off with Regina and her family had been the best time of my life. Now we were having to go back to work after all of that time together. Granted, all good things must come to an end but I was having a particularly difficult time stepping away from all of them.

Henry was heading back to pre-K. Tanya was preparing for all new professors for the Spring semester. Carla was busy preparing for the baby who was going to be arriving in the next couple of months. Papa Henry was going back to work much like me and Regina. Momma Cora was working on the floral inventory to get ready for Valentine's Day next month.

I wanted to keep all of the good memories from our vacation together and throw out the singular bad one. Daniel. Nobody had mentioned him since that horrible night. The fear from that night kept our new year's celebrations low key because everyone realized the one thing we needed to focus on was how we all had each other.

Henry Jr had recovered quickly and was as rambunctious as ever during the end of our vacation. Nobody had the heart to complain when he ran through the house sliding on the slick hardwood floors as he pretended it was summer and he was on a slip and slide. There was a sort of comfort in hearing his little laugh echoing throughout the house.

When we had packed everything back up to head home, Momma Cora had told me that I now had clothes and a toothbrush in their guest room so there was no excuse not to visit when they came back up. I don't think I had ever been so happy to know old people white underwear was safe upstairs in 'my' room. We had laughed and hugged promising to see each other soon.

Regina and Henry had dropped me off at the Extended Stay hotel that housed all of my stuff. I was embarrassed for her to see where I lived but Henry had washed that embarrassment away when he started jabbering on about how he wanted to come and see me because I had a pool. I promised him that as soon as it opened, we could get in the kiddie pool. I looked at Regina in surprise only to see her looking back at me with her eyebrows raised at Henry's nonchalant statement about wanting to go back into a pool.

As they drove away, I watched until I could no longer see red tail lights. I looked around the small room and realized just how quiet and empty it was. It used to be the norm for me but now? Well, now I knew exactly what it was missing. It was missing the feeling of a true home with joyous laughter from people you wanted to share your life with.

I stood in the doorway holding my keys thinking about the kiss Regina and I had shared. That kiss had felt like home to me. It was the fresh baked bread that made your mouth water. It was the glass of iced homemade lemonade on a hot day that quenched your thirst. It was the flames on a fire that burned so bright the flames were blue. It was pure Regina.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I had been holding and headed to take a shower. Work was going to come pretty early in the morning and Regina was working the later shift so we wouldn't be able to have lunch. Hopefully soon we would find the time alone we needed to talk about whatever it was she was flustered about after our kiss.

After my shower, I had no sooner laid my head down on the pillow when I heard the alarm clock going off. Ugh. Time to make some moolah. I pulled on some jeans, a dark green t-shirt, my work boots and my leather jacket. After stirring some instant coffee into warm tap water, I grabbed my keys and headed off to work.

I pulled into the parking lot and took my time walking across it. It was still cold outside so the frost on the asphalt was causing the sun to reflect off of it in little rainbow bursts. The Exit door was unlocked for employees so I pulled it apart and walked inside. The first thing I saw was a bird flying across the rafters. Birds and mice liked to scurry about in the store because of the dropped birdseed and the occasional french fry from a little kid who couldn't grasp very well.

My coffee was completely cold by the time I got to the break room. I threw my coffee away, grabbed my apron, went to hang up my jacket and grab a walkie-talkie before heading up front. I loved this time of the day. In the morning when the store is still closed, the peacefulness surrounds you. They keep most of the lights off so it's darker but for whatever reason, I find it warm and inviting. Maybe it's the absence of harsh fluorescent lighting or maybe it's because it's not yet filled with intercom pages or loud customers. Whatever the reason, I relished these moments.

I glanced at my watch and saw we had about 3 minutes before the opening. As I turned the corner to head to electrical, Bob was coming towards me. We chatted for a bit about what we did on vacation and how much it sucked to be back. Then, the lights started coming on and I had to get to work. The first part of any early shift is spent putting away any stock for our department that had come in on the truck.

After a few hours, it was time for Regina to come into work. I had left one box of stock for crimpers which just happened to be near the end of the aisle where I could watch her come in the store. When she started walking through the Entrance, I noticed she was wearing the scarf set that Carla had gotten her for Christmas. It was red, black, and grey patchwork and it was currently wrapped around the neck of one frozen woman.

She shook her head a couple of times as she walked towards me trying to get the few snowflakes that had fallen out of her hair. Once she peeled her coat and gloves off, she looked up to catch me watching her and slowly smiled in my direction. As she passed me by, she didn't say a word. I turned the aisle just slightly pretending to stock something but it was just an excuse to see her ass sway in her khakis.

As she turned to head into the break room, she looked back to find me ogling her. My eyes snapped up and I grinned sheepishly at being caught. Brown eyes rolled and I saw her stomach move with the small chuckle she let out before heading to clock in.

I swear I was really stocking stuff when she passed me by the second time. Although, I may have paused just for a moment to take one more look at the khaki clothed bottom that was right in my field of vision. I heard a cough and looked up to see her with her eyes wide open in the 'really?' expression. She stopped, held her arm out palm up, lifted her palm until it was eye level with me and then turned her palm down and pointed two fingers at my eyes and then brought them back to point at her own eyes. Got it. Message received. Cute little brown-eyed messenger with the hot ass.

The rest of the day, I was working to get my department stocked while Bob handled customer questions and needs. My lunch break was useless but I had to take it. Sure, I needed to eat and hydrate but I missed the person I was used to being around. As I sat in the break room, I watched the time on the clock slowly tick away. I leaned back in my chair, laced my hands behind my head, and closed my eyes. Maybe I could sleep away the last 34 and a half minutes.

I was counting to 60 over and over in my head when a smile broke out on my face as I smelled my favorite perfume waft over to me. I looked up just in time to see Regina take a seat next to me. She bumped my shoulder and pretended like it wasn't a big deal.

"You miss me or something?"

"Hmmm." She was looking everywhere but at me but she was smiling the entire time.

I got up to grab a diet coke out of the soda machine and slid it over to her with a napkin. She wiped the top off and opened it. "How are things in electrical?"

"Eh. I got the wire restocked. We were out of 14 gauge. Somebody had forgotten to order it before vacation so Bob had to go in and manually order some from another store to get us through today and tomorrow until the next truck can get here. How's the front?"

She sipped her diet coke and glanced slyly at me, "Not half as spellbinding as your wiring dilemma."

"You wound me, Reggie. If you want excitement, the floor is where it's at."

"You couldn't handle watching me climb ladders in jeans, Dear." She took another sip, "And we're still not doing that."

"Whoa. Are you implying I can't be an attentive spotter?"

"Quite the contrary. I'm _stating_ you'll be attentive to the point of incapacitation."

"Someone took their arrogance pill this morning."

"It's actually a smoothie, not a pill."

"Just drink your diet coke."

I reached over to where the aluminum can was sitting and absently smeared some of the dew around the bottom of the can with my pinkie. Regina's hand was resting on top of the can but her pinkie slid down and curled around mine. We were both staring straight ahead, smiling towards the red numbers on the time clock. Somehow, just the two of us sitting there slightly touching was more intimate than most things I had done with previous crushes.

As loud voices came closer to the break room, our hands smoothly slipped away from each other. I instantly missed her little pinkie. I got up to clock back in as she threw her trash away. We walked up the main aisle together which was becoming one of my favorite parts of working there. As she reached into her pocket, I knew she was going to be reapplying her lipstick as we walked. When she was done, we would find a way to touch each other inconspicuously before heading to our respective areas.

As if on cue, her shoulder bumped mine and I smiled and looked over at her. She bit her lip and grinned. I stuck my hand in my apron and pulled out a small bag and handed it to her. Like a kid in a candy store, her eyes lit up and she grabbed it a little too eagerly.

"How did you know I like these?"

I stopped and rubbed the back of my neck with my hand, "Umm, I kindof asked your mom."

She looked confused, "My mother didn't find that to be a strange question?"

"Uhhh, yeah, no. She told me and then pinched my cheeks before walking off."

Regina briefly closed her eyes and shook her head chuckling softly. I held my hand out for her to give the bag back to me for a second and she only relented after seeing the utility knife in my hand. I cut the corner open and handed the treats back to her. I saw her index finger and thumb neatly wiggle down into the clear plastic bag and fish out a piece of the candy before popping it in her mouth.

She made a big show of sucking it loudly and then asked me if I wanted some. I told her I already had my favorite candy. She could keep all of the lemon drops to herself.

**A/N: I love sweet and fluffy Regina and Emma :)**

**Congratulations to _ChinaTeaSunflowers_ who was the 200th reviewer for this story! Thank you so much! **

**Thank you, guys and gals for ALL of the reviews you leave. It makes me smile and gives me motivation to write. When the reviews stop, I'll know this story has reached its end. There's alot to explore here between our girls so hang on for the ride. I'm having a blast writing them ;)**


	16. Chapter 16

**This will be a two part chapter that takes place over one evening.**

The next week and a half proved to be very hectic. Regina was in meetings with the rest of the manager's while they discussed the  
budget for the year. Normally at the first of the year, alot of hiring went on in anticipation for increased sales due to construction  
projects that started up. Once the weather clears up, people begin to think about building new homes, remodeling the ones they already  
have, installing pools, walkways, and of course planting their gardens. Regina's department always got the most new hires since  
cashiers and loaders were the most utilized.

Unfortunately, this meant she was working 10 hours a day at the store and then some. We talked on the phone during this time but it was  
always about work and even though she tried to hide her yawns, I knew she was exhausted. During the last meeting, she received a huge  
folder full of applications for her to look through and find potential employees to interview. When she told me how many there were, I  
offered to come over and help her weed through them. I knew she was tired when she didn't hesitate to take me up on my offer.

I got off work at six and headed over to Regina's. I had been carrying around Regina and Henry's Christmas presents in the trunk of my  
car since we got back from vacation but we hadn't had a chance to have our own Christmas celebration for me to give them out. I just  
hoped they both liked what I picked out. I don't think I had ever bought a Christmas gift for anyone in my entire life.

As I pulled into her driveway for the first time, I noticed a small green John Deere tractor in the front yard and had to smile at the  
image of Henry driving around on it waving his dragon in the air. I got out of the car carrying my packages and made my way up the few  
steps past white pillars to push the doorbell with my elbow.

A few seconds later, a tired looking Regina opened the door, smiled at me and ushered me inside. She took the wrapped presents from me  
and sat them on the table in the entryway. About that time, a brown-haired bundle of excitement came running towards me. I had just  
enough time to crouch down before he launched himself into my arms and giving me a tight hug.

"Are those presents for me?"

"Well, hello to you, too, bud." I said laughing and squeezing him back.

"Henry, mind your manners." Regina scolded.

"Sorry, mommy." He mumbled but then pulled back to look at me with this pitiful expression that I'm pretty sure he knew worked on  
everyone.

I took one look at him and reached up to lightly tap his nose, "I suppoooooooooose one of them might be for you so stop giving me the  
puppy dog eyes."

He grinned widely and looked over at Regina but before he could even ask, she was nodding and waving us off to the living room. I  
grabbed the biggest present and positioned him on one hip while I carried the present in my free hand.

"Alright. Let's go see what's inside this Scooby Doo wrapping paper."

We headed into the living room and I sat him down on the couch before taking a seat next to him. I knew he was itching to get his  
fingers on the gift so I wasted no time in handing it to him. I swear the kid got his unwrapping skills from a gorilla. He grabbed the  
center of the paper, squeezed and pulled it as hard as he could. I thought Regina was going to come running in the room from the  
screams of joy coming from him. I started laughing and helped him open the box and get everything out. He could barely keep still.

"This is the best gift EVER, Emma! I wanna go show mommy."

"Well, let's get this on and we'll go surprise her." I helped him put everything on and as I stood up he stood up and put his hands on  
the backs of my shoulders with the universal 'piggyback ride' signal. I hoisted him up on my back and took off to show Regina.

"Go right. She's in her office."

The minute we hit the doorway leading into Regina's office, she looked up at the commotion and laid down her ink pen as squeals of  
surprise came from her throat, "My, my. What do we have here? Where's my son at, Ms Swan?"

"I'm here, mommy. Look, under the hat. It's me." He lifted up the yellow hat and she pretended to be shocked.

"Henry! I thought that was Bob the Builder on Emma's shoulders. You had me fooled."

I knelt down so he could get off of my shoulders and race over to show Regina the yellow hard hat, tool belt, and plastic tools that  
were hanging haphazardly from it. She pushed her chair away from her desk so he could climb up on her lap and tell her what each of  
the tools were for. By the enthusiasm she was showing him, you wouldn't have known she was about to drop from exhaustion. Her eyes  
were lit up as she chuckled at him trying to say the word 'screwdriver'. Somehow it was coming out 'shoodrymer'. Neither one of had  
the heart to correct him in this moment.

When he was sure Regina had seen every bit of his new outfit, he scrambled down and headed upstairs to play in his room. I heard  
another "Thank you so much, Emma!" as he blew past me.

I looked up to find Regina smiling softly at me and I rubbed the back of my neck nervously before holding up one finger. I walked back  
to the foyer and picked up the two wrapped packages and headed back to the office with them. After walking in, I motioned for her to  
come over to the couch. When she sank down into its cushions, I placed the largest of the gifts in her lap and held the second between  
two hands which were suddenly shaking a bit. I'm not sure why I was nervous but it was probably because I didn't really know what to  
expect. I had gotten the gifts before we went to the cabin so I had been trying to find something that was thoughtful without being  
romantic.

I chewed my lip nervously as she took her time opening each corner and carefully peeling back the edges of the wrapping paper. It felt  
like she spent ten minutes unwrapping the square box. She folded the wrapping paper and sat it beside her and then held the box up to  
inspect it.

"It's called a Happy Light. In the wintertime, our bodies don't get enough sunlight and this replicates natural light so it helps  
boost energy levels and, well, it's supposed to make you happier. Hence the name."

She looked up and just stared at me in wonder. When she remained quiet, I continued "I heard the first month back after vacation was  
going to be hectic for all of the managers so I knew you would be spending alot of time in your office. Either here or at work.  
Thought this might brighten your mood. No pun intended."

She ran her hand over the box and softly thanked me. "I've...never had anyone buy a gift for me that was so thoughtful. Thank you so  
much, Emma. It's perfect."

I grinned and offered to set it up for her. She handed it to me and I set the box on the floor next to my feet before handing her the  
smaller gift.

"Am I a Velma?"

I looked up confused. "What?"

She rolled her eyes and pointed to the wrapping paper. I grinned sheepishly. "Hey, wrapping paper is wrapping paper. You're lucky I  
didn't stick it in a gift bag. As it is, I had to keep trimming the sides away to get it to lie flat before taping it all up. Wrapping  
isn't something I'm gifted at."

I wiggled my eyebrows."Get it? 'Gifted' at?"

"Your humor knows no bounds, Dear." She teased as she held out her hand for the other gift. I handed a flat rectangular box to her.

I sat patiently waiting for her to unwrap it at her snail's pace. The longer it took, the more the queasy feeling in the pit of my  
stomach grew. Finally she placed the folded paper aside and lifted the top off of the white box. As she pulled out the folded pieces of  
paper and sifted through them, I saw her furrow her brow in confusion so I started to explain.

"They're menus. From all of the restaurants in town. I wanted you to know that I really, really like our lunches together and I was  
hoping...well, I was hoping you could see all of the places we hadn't tried yet."

Regina ran her hands across the stack, sliding her fingers across the thick bundle.

"Maybe, you know if you want, we could work our way through all of these. If you want. I mean, it's up to you." I took a deep breath  
and held it until I saw her eyes find mine. They were bright, soft, and full of moisture.

I reached up to wipe a stray tear away and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "Are those sad tears or happy tears?"

She chuckled softly while sniffing, "Happy tears, Dear. Very happy tears. I'm afraid I feel inadequate in describing how this gift  
makes me feel."

I took the hand resting on the menus and held it between both of mine. "How about we just focus on the happy part. And you haven't  
even turned your happy light on yet. Lookatchu."

Her thumb rubbed smooth lines across mine as we sat there enjoying the peacefulness of just being together. Suddenly, Regina sat up  
and put the menus on the floor. "I was so enthralled with my gifts that I forgot to give yours to you. One moment." She rushed out of  
the room.

I stood up to go fiddle with the stereo system on the back wall. I turned it on and thumbed through her music to find some oldies but  
goodies and turned the volume down low. About that time she came into the room carrying a small box which was perfectly wrapped in  
paper that was all widths of green and blue stripes. Sitting in the left hand corner was a tiny silver, green, and blue bow. She had  
even put a name tag on it. 'Ms Swan'. I chuckled and eagerly tried to rip into the paper much to her chagrin.

"Must you act like a savage with such a delicate item?"

"Must you fold the edges flush with the side and have tape covering them?" I grunted with the effort of trying to find a way into the  
package.

"AHA! Got it. Whoooooooa. Ohhh man. Look at these beauties." I opened the smaller box inside to find a pair of mirrored Ray Ban  
Aviator sunglasses. I promptly used one hand to put them on and looked around for a mirror. Finding a small one on the wall next to  
Regina's desk, I walked over to check myself out. "Damn. I look gooooooood."

I turned around to find her staring at me with the wide grin on her face. "You look...adequate."

"Ummm, I think the adjective you meant to use was sexyful."

"That is not even a word."

"All the more reason for you to use it. It's unique. Like me." I raised my sunglasses up just enough to let her see me wink at her.

Her cheeks flushed pink."Hmmmm."

I pulled the sunglasses off and put them back in their case. "Seriously though, Regina, thank you. This is an amazing gift and I  
really like them."

She nodded and took a step forward to lay her hand on my arm. I heard her throat clearing and watched her swallowing nervously. I  
stood where I was waiting for her to speak. I could feel a small tremble against my forearm.

She took a deep breath. "Do you remember the first day we went to lunch? It was to a pizza place. You forgot your sunglasses." She  
paused and searched my eyes before continuing. "I...I thought that maybe you could keep this pair in my car. For when we are working  
our way through the menus." She gave me a half smile.

I looked around and laid the case on the shelf just within reach before wrapping both arms around her waist and giving her a long hug.  
I felt her hands slide up and wrap around the back of my neck.

"You realize you just made this gift a thousand times better, right?" I whispered into her hair.

She responded by pulling the back of my head closer so that we were flush. We stood, wrapped in each others arms for a stolen moment  
in time. Having her this close to me was something I could quickly get used to. Finally, we parted but we still had our arms around  
each other. My hands at her hips were rubbing the pant line at her waist while hers were absently twirling my hair between her  
fingers.

I craned my neck down enough to catch her eyes from their downturned position. She met my gaze and then glanced over my shoulder at  
the golden strands she was playing with. "I think...I want you to keep your sunglasses in my car for a long time."

I squinted my eyes and tilted my head in thought. Then, it dawned on me what she was talking about. "I think I'd like that."

She nodded and paused before the next sentence. "You would be the first woman who...kept their sunglasses in my car."

I tried not to smile at the ball of cuteness she was right now. So, I nodded along with her. "And you're sure you're comfortable with  
a woman keeping her sunglasses in your car?"

Her fingers stopped their movement and she shook her head no. "Not any woman, Emma. You." One slender finger traced a line from my  
ear, along my jaw and paused before her hand cupped my face. "I think...there's a place for them now."

I closed my eyes and let her words wash over me. The thumb cradling my chin pushed upwards slightly before I felt soft lips brush  
against mine in a kiss as sweet as the woman bestowing it. As we reluctantly let each other go, we heard loud noises before a  
rambunctious four-year old came bounding down the stairs asking if we could all watch a Bob the Builder cartoon. I picked him up and  
swung him over my shoulder and followed Regina out of the room as she was giving him specific instructions for one cartoon before  
bedtime.

We settled on the couch in the living room with Henry snug between us still wearing his full Bob the Builder outfit. I looked over the  
yellow hard-hat at the woman staring at the tv screen and raised my arm to put it around the top of the couch so I could rub her  
shoulder while we viewed the first Bob cartoon that I had ever seen.

The hilarity of it was not lost on me but somehow, as boring as that moment would seem to some people, a seed was planted with the  
desire to one day call this family my own. A small hand started patting my leg telling me to look at this part because it was 'really funny' and I was drawn away from my thoughts. But, that was ok. Hopefully this was just the beginning of a long string of little moments like this. I bit my lip trying to focus on the cartoon and not the happy dance that was going on in my head. Regina wanted me to keep my sunglasses in her car.

**A/N: We're back to the molasses pace, people. Sit back and let this story grow :)**

**Shout-out to **_SharpestKnifeInTheDrawer_ **for the awesome review which stated that Regina and Emma are the cutest couple in any universe. AGREED!**

**I would like to do a stand-alone chapter that paused the story long enough for Regina's pov on what has happened from day one up **  
**until where we are now. What do you guys think? Would you like to see that or should I just continue in Emma's pov? I'll tell you the **  
**reasoning behind it. Regina's character in any fic is layered and I want to delve into her thoughts just to complete the circle. With **  
**Emma, we're only getting half of the story. In my last fic, I switched between both of their POV's but I want to keep this one **  
**strictly from Emma's. However, for those readers who are wondering what's going on in Regina's head, I thought a stand-alone chapter would **  
**work beautifully. Time for ya'll to weigh on! Thoughts?**


	17. Chapter 17

Henry had fallen asleep before the cartoon finished. Regina whispered that she needed to take him upstairs and tuck him in. She removed his hat and unfastened his tool belt so that it would fall back onto the couch when he was lifted up. I told her to lead the way while I stood and placed my hands under his body pulling it up into my arms. In his slumber, Henry turned his head and nuzzled it into the crook of my arm as we headed up the stairs. My grip tightened to make sure he was secure in my arms.

It was almost as if I was floating above my body watching the scene unfold below me. The sight of Regina leading the way up the stairs and into Henry's bedroom as he lay nestled in my arms brought on this wave of emotion that I couldn't quite classify. Good emotions, just foreign ones for me.

I followed Regina into his room and over to his bed where she was pulling the covers back. She stepped aside and I moved forward to slowly lower him into his castle. An actual castle. Regina had spared no expense in buying him a twin bed that was surrounded by a castle façade complete with artificial ivy running around the top and sides of it. Courtesy of Momma Cora, I'm betting. Built into each side were bookshelves which were filled with children's books ranging from bedtime stories to fairytales to Magic Treehouse. He had learned to read before most kids his age and Regina made sure she kept his appetite for words satiated. It was something she had told me with a beaming smile on her face.

I straightened up and turned to look at her with an arched eyebrow and jerked my head in the direction of the castle with an amused smirk. She raised both of her eyebrows and placed her hands on her hips in a defensive gesture. I raised both of my hands up in a sign of surrender and took a step back so she could bend down and give Henry a kiss goodnight. Hey, if she wanted to put a huge castle in the kid's bedroom, who was I to argue?

When she was finished saying goodnight, we turned to head across his bedroom to head downstairs when I stopped. She looked back at me and saw I was watching the small figure nestled under Monster's Inc bedding. I felt a warm hand touch my elbow and when I looked over at her , she smiled softly and gently nudged me forward. Regina remained near the doorway as I quietly padded back over to the bed and knelt on the floor beside of it. My eyes took in the steady rise and fall of his tiny chest and the repeated motions beneath his eyelids as whatever dream he was having caused rapid eye movements.

I leaned up on my knees through the side window cutout on the castle and brushed the hair away from his forehead. My lips briefly connected with his left temple and I shut my eyes as my heart felt like someone had squeezed it. I sat back up and just stared at him for a couple of seconds trying to get my emotions under control before turning back to face Regina. When the lump in my throat finally subsided a bit, I got up and walked back towards her. I couldn't even begin to explain what I was feeling or why such a small thing was affecting me like it was.

The contemplative look on her face puzzled me a bit but I stopped walking once I was behind her and placed my hands on her hips to swivel her around so that we were both facing the bed. I wrapped my arms around the front of her waist and she leaned back against me as she placed both of her arms around mine. My chin rested on her shoulder as we stood looking over at the boy sleeping soundly a few feet away.

In that instant, I put my finger on the emotion I was feeling. Even though Regina and I had grown closer, I was already getting swept up in the idea of us three being a family when we had discussed nothing of the sort. We hadn't even technically been on a date and here I was seeing the three of us as a singular unit. Somehow we had fallen into this easiness and it felt so right to me.

I was always afraid of overstepping my boundaries but found myself wanting to do all of the little things that my heart was telling me to rush towards. My head was telling me to slow down and let Regina set the pace because this might be too much too soon. I closed my eyes and placed a soft kiss next to her ear and felt one of her hands lace our fingers together as she gently squeezed. Somehow amid all of these feelings that we hadn't talked about, she had known exactly how torn I was about wanting to give Henry a goodnight kiss but not knowing if that was something I was allowed to do. She never questioned nor did she show any signs of jealousy. Somehow she just knew and encouraged me to follow the avenue my heart wanted to walk. Every time she did something like that, she watered those seeds I had planted.

Reluctantly, we unwrapped ourselves from each other and headed downstairs. I leaned down just beside Henry's door and flipped on the nightlight I had seen when I got up from kissing him goodnight. Then, we quietly descended the stairs and closed Regina's office door behind us to keep from waking Henry as we worked.

I picked up the box on the floor next to the couch and took it over to her desk as I unboxed the happy light and hooked it up. A soft blue light filled the room so I dimmed the overhead light just enough so we had light to read the apps but without the harsh brightness that was notorious for giving headaches. Regina poured us both a glass of chilled sparkling white grape juice explaining we needed clear heads while working. I groaned my disapproval. She just rolled her eyes and handed over my glass.

"Alrighty. Tell me what we need to be looking for in the applications and we'll split the pile and each go through half." I took a sip of my sparkling crap juice.

"I will be hiring 10 cashiers and 7 loaders. With cashiers, I am looking for people who have flexible schedules as well as previous experience in working a register". She split the stack of applications in half and handed mine over.

"Got it. What about loaders?"

"Loaders are easier to find. I need people who have no health restrictions and can lift at least 70 lbs at a time. Flexible schedules are appreciated but not necessary. I already have quite a few loaders but they are split between three areas- The front, Lawn and Garden, and Lumber. "

"What about girls?"

"What about them, Ms Swan?"

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Really? Ms Swan? Ok, look, _Ms Mills_, has the store ever hired a girl loader?"

Regina looked a little taken aback at that question. "Actually, for your information, I have. Her name was Melanie and she worked for the store for 3 years. She was the first _female_ loader and you are looking at the person who hired her. She came in to apply for the job, laid out the reasons why she would be successful in the position and then asked me to give her a 30 day trial run. If I wasn't satisfied by the end of the 30 days, then she would gladly accept termination."

"Wow. I'm impressed Reggi…..Regina. How did she do compared to the other loaders? I mean I'm sure she did great but I wanna hear."

"Melanie never clocked in late, always answered her pages on the first call, never complained that something was too heavy or that she should get any special treatment because she was a female, and her work ethic made the other loaders step up their game because she was actually there to work and not goof off. She was a beast and rose to any challenge. During her first year, there was a store promotion that gave bonuses to employees who had customers write positive reviews about them. Melanie would carry around a bunch of the cards in her apron and hand them to customers to fill out while she loaded their merchandise in their car. For every 10 you turned in, you received a $50 bonus on your paycheck. Then, at the end of the promotion, the person with the most overall positive reviews received a $250 from the company. Needless to say, she couldn't be caught. During the 3 month promotion, she received several thousand dollars in bonuses because she had developed a brilliant system and was so friendly to customers that they were more than happy to help her out."

"Daaaaamn. She should be cloned. Seriously. Maybe we'll find a few people in all of these that are at least half as good as she was." I gestured to the apps that were patiently waiting for us to go through.

"Possibly. I have a discard pile and then a pile for cashiers and one for loaders. Did you put the stereo on?"

"Eh, yeah, I like to listen to music while I work. Ya hear that? Everybody works better with a lil Billy Joel. Want me to sing along? I can even play some air saxophone that will blow your mind! "

"Oh I hardly think Billy Joel requires your backup vocals or attempts at imaginary instruments, Dear." She smirked and tapped the pile of applications resting on my knees. "Keep your singing career on the inside while you start on these."

I grunted and made a big show of pulling the first application from the pile and loudly opening it while giving her a pointed look and clearing my throat loudly. "I'm already starting. Catch up, pokie. We're burning daylight."

We sat side-by-side on the couch thumbing through the applications, occasionally stopping to sip some of the sparkling juice which was now room temperature. Piano strains softly permeated the room along with the shuffling of papers. The discard pile was the largest one which meant we were struggling to find potential interviewees.

"How about this guy for a loader?" I asked waving one of the applications at her.

She took it out of my hands and scanned the application and attached resume. She rubbed her tired eyes and handed the application back to me. "He did not graduate high school nor does he have his equivalent. I'm not going to interview anyone who doesn't have drive."

"Ok, first of all, you need to get some sleep because your crabbiness is causing you to act totally out of character. Second, he was at his last job for 6 years before the business closed. The kicker is he was an Eagle Scout. That fact alone shows perseverance, leadership and work ethic. Give him a chance. He can't be the only person working at the store that didn't graduate. Maybe something drastic happened and he wasn't able to finish. Maybe he didn't have money for college. You can't judge, Regina. Look at what he's accomplished instead of what's missing." I took a deep breath and released it.

Regina was watching me with a thoughtful expression on her face. After a long moment, she nodded, picked the paper back up and added his application to the 'Interview' pile.

About an hour later, we finally got to the bottom of the stack. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Regina's hands had stilled on her last application which was lying in her lap. I turned my head to see her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted. She was so exhausted she was starting to fall asleep sitting up. Her hair was slightly mussed from being up since 5am, working a full shift, coming home to take care of Henry and dinner and then burning the midnight oil trying to find new hires for her department. This woman was the epitome of a Super Mom. I know she was my hero.

I put my hand on the small of her back and gently rubbed it while whispering her name. Her eyes slowly opened and I saw her blink heavily as she tried to get them to focus. I reached for the piece of paper resting under her hands and received no resistance as I removed it. I stood up and went to turn the stereo and happy light off. Then, I walked back over to her and held out my hand. She took it and I slowly pulled her to her feet. She was a bit unsteady due to the sleepy fog surrounding her senses. I asked her if she thought she could make it upstairs and she moved her head slightly to nod.

I put my hand in its place on the small of her back and slightly nudged her towards the door. I flipped the light off as we exited and kept guiding her towards the stairs. As we headed up, she stumbled on one of the steps and I immediately stopped us so I could put my arm around her waist to keep her from falling. She raised her left arm and draped it around my neck and tried to rest her head on my shoulder but I reminded her we still had quite a few stairs to walk up but once we got to the top, she would be just a few steps from her bed.

It took us a couple of minutes to maneuver our way up the curving staircase but eventually we made our way to the door she had pointed to letting me know which one led to her bedroom. I opened the door, then moved to let her walk in front of me but kept my hand stretched out to catch her should she stumble again. She wasted no time in dragging her feet over to her bed and falling into it. I chuckled softly seeing her curled up in the queen sized bed fully clothed wearing her tan houseshoes with the fuzzy linings.

Keeping my eyes on the cute form in front of me, I walked over and removed her slippers and tugged the covers out from under her so I could pull them up and over her small frame. I unfolded the quilt stretched over the bottom of the bed and draped it over the covers already surrounding her to make sure she stayed warm throughout the night.

The only light in the room was a sliver of moonlight peeking through the curtains illuminating the resting woman I was leaning down to kiss goodnight. When my lips touched her cheek, she reached out to grab the hand that I had placed on the bed to brace myself and sighed. I wanted nothing more than to crawl in bed with her and let my exhaustion melt away along side hers so it was with great reluctance that I slid my hand out from under hers and turned to walk downstairs.

Before I left, I peeked my head in Henry's bedroom to make sure he was still asleep and then went downstairs. I turned all of the outside lights on and checked all of the doors to make sure they were locked. I flipped the light above the stove on in case either one of the slumbering heart thieves upstairs wanted to get a drink of water in the middle of the night. Making my way back to the foyer, I grabbed my jacket from where Regina had hung it up and fished the car keys out of the pocket. I turned the lock on the front door and stepped outside pulling it closed behind me. I jiggled the doorknob to make sure it was securely locked and headed down the steps to the yellow metal mode of transportation that was probably colder inside than it was outside.

As I started the car and sat there rubbing my hands in front of the steering wheel trying to get them to warm up so I could drive, I glanced up at the house I had just walked out of. I had missed the warmth inside the instant the front door closed. But, see, there's a lot of different definitions of the word warmth.

Right now, I was trying to get my hands to warm up but the warmth I was missing from Regina's house was completely different. I missed the warmth of her home. Not the wood and nails that made up the physical manifestation of a house, but rather the laughter and love hidden behind the metal of the front door which made that house a home. I didn't miss the warm air blowing throughout that home which knocked the chill off of my bones but rather the bubbling feeling from spending time with people I cared about which caused my heart to swell.

As I put the car in drive and headed back to where I lived, the little bit of heat my yellow transporter was putting out only served as a reminder of what I was driving away from. The seeds I had planted were starting to grow and I wondered if the roots would follow the direction my heart wanted them to and wrap themselves around the one thing my heart was screaming for at this moment: A warm home.

**A/N: I wondered if there was such a thing as a castle bed. So, after some searching, I found a picture of one on ebay. If anyone wants to check it out, it's the grey faded stone looking toddler bed with the ivy at the top. It was PERFECT! Just another touch of FTL ;) I would have loved to have something like that growing up!**

**Thank you to _espemart_ for recommending a good read. **

**Everyone needs to send good thoughts to _rickmantic_ so no spontaneous combustion happens. We can't lose readers!**

**The vast majority of responses in reviews and pm are in favor of a stand-alone chapter which pauses the story for us to take one chapter to view inside Regina's psyche from the beginning of the story up until this point. Then, the story will resume and continue in Emma's pov. I have no interest in switching back and forth between pov's so no worries, dear readers! I'm not sure if I will do it in the next chapter but it will be soon. When I publish it, I'll put a note at the top for those who would rather skip to the next full chapter. Thank you SO much for everyone who takes the time to let me know what's on their minds or what they like/dislike about the storyline so far. No story can please everyone all of the time but I am enjoying writing it and for a writer, that is paramount. **

**Have I mentioned how awesome the SQ fandom is? *grin* You know how in high school we all had our different groups of friends but there was that one group that you always seemed drawn to a little bit more because everyone fit together so perfectly? Well, you guys are that group for me. We come from all walks of life from around the world but this one thing brings us together in a wonderful web weaved from all of those things that make us unique. Together, we create an environment that is spun from silken strands of encouragement and acceptance. I thank you for being in my group of supportive friends :)**


	18. Regina's POV Stand Alone Chapter

**A/N: This is the Regina's POV Stand Alone Chapter.**

**You may read her thoughts or choose to wait for the next chapter which will be up shortly.**

**Thank you to everyone who messaged me during the past few weeks. Life has been cruel and unfair but I am working through it. Thanks for all of the encouragement. This story has so much more for you all to discover. So, stay tuned. Updates will be more frequent although not at a daily pace like before. This is the only story that has my attention right now now so after this chapter, it's back to our girls interacting :) **

It started several months ago. The first time green eyes, blonde hair, and that irritatingly goofy smile were introduced to my world. In the past 29 years, I thought I had my life figured out. I was engaged to my high school sweetheart, had a wonderful four-year old to make me smile every day, and my career was progressing nicely. Then, Emma sauntered into my life and shook everything I knew so badly that I no longer knew where each piece fit. My tidy, organized mold was shattered, scattered and disrupted. She had hit the refresh button on my life.

When I was younger, I dreamed of what I thought most little girls do. Getting married, having a couple of kids, being a stay-at-home mom until they were in school, and then starting a part-time career in a job that suited me perfectly. My husband and I would grow old together and retire somewhere near the beach where we would spoil our grandkids rotten. Dreams rarely take the path we think they will.

My history with the father of my son is a rocky one. But that is a story for another day. I will say that he had always been the spouse I pictured when I dreamt of the future. Now, that face has blurred and sports softer features. I am in no way implying a destiny entwined with Ms Swan's but rather begrudgingly admitting she has awakened something in me that has opened my consciousness to a new possibility. I have learned that not all little girls dream of little boys.

When Emma first started working with me, we were cordial. She was my employee and I was her boss. I would classify our talks as polite but impersonal. Yet the more we talked, I found myself enjoying our time together and actually missing it when our schedules didn't coincide. Some days I suspected her of switching with other cashiers and offering to take a later lunch just so we had an hour together.

She could have just asked me. In the beginning, I was the one who made her schedule. Although watching her be resourceful while thinking I was oblivious had its own level of cuteness. If she had stopped to give any thought to the matter, she would have noticed she had to do that less and less as time went on. It carried over to her new department. Bob and I were old friends.

Emma was a brand of sweetness I was unprepared for. I quickly became accustomed to having her as part of my day. She paid attention to details I would denote as ordinary but somehow, she would do something as simple as clock me out for lunch and it made me feel like I was the most special person in the world.

All of our time together rubbed off on me because I found myself doing the same thing. Most of the time I didn't even realize it. I remember being in the grocery store and seeing a bag of cherry jolly ranchers. I thought 'Oh, Emma loves those'. I stood there for a moment trying to figure out where that had come from and why I remembered such a thing. I ended up buying the only bag hanging on the hook. I realize now, it was our first gift.

The first time she came into my office, she hopped up on the countertop like she didn't have a care in the world. It was on that same countertop where I wondered what her lips felt like. I had surprised her with the candy and she kissed the stickiness from my fingertips with the gentlest touch my skin had ever felt. I was taken aback at my sudden urge and chalked it up to a one-time thing. But that would be a desire that would plague my thoughts with a growing frequency.

My thoughts weren't helped by the fact that this woman openly ogled me. I was no stranger to quick appreciative glances which I rightly deserved. Even after giving birth, my body was as svelte as it was when I was a cheerleader. I wasn't arrogant. Merely confident.

Emma was never quick with anything. Her appreciative glances turned into downright, lustful gazing. In the beginning, I scolded her but I had grown quite fond of the tingling feeling I got everywhere her eyes touched. I may have started putting a little more thought into the clothes I wore around her.

We spent hours talking to each other inside and outside of work. Leaving her was the worst part of my day. I remember all of our firsts. The first time I saw her, the first time we spent our lunch hour together, the first time I noticed she carried a wallet, the first time I saw her suspended in the air trying to work while running a cherry picker. The last one had my heart beating out of my chest because I realized….well, I realized she was important to me. I just couldn't pinpoint why.

There was a day that sticks out in my mind as one that left me feeling confused. Daniel had shown up to surprise me at work and take me out to lunch. He had done that several times throughout the years and never called ahead to see if I was busy. He expected me to drop everything when he arrived. Out of habit, that's what I did. It wasn't until I was walking out with him did I realize Emma and I were supposed to try a new sandwich shop that had opened up.

Sometimes I think we can feel each others presence. As I was walking out, I looked over and saw her standing alone watching me leave with him. I wanted to run over and explain but there was no time. I cannot place the expression on her face but I knew hurt was one of the emotions. Daniel asked me something and I turned to answer him and when I looked back, Emma was gone.

Even though Daniel was back in town for a couple of days and wanted to tell me all about what he had been up to since we last spoke, the conversation was one-sided. I realized I didn't want to be there with him. I felt antsy and uncomfortable. Plus, during the entire hour, he never once paused to ask about how I had been or how our son was doing. All things that Emma did every single day.

I saw there picking at my food and watching the clock. Somehow things between Daniel and I felt different. Had he always been like this or was I suddenly looking for more out of life. We finished lunch and I paid. Even that fact caused a spark of irritation to run through me. I realized I always paid for everything.

The car ride back to the store was spent with him talking about where he was heading next and me staring out the window. He pulled up to the Main Entrance and went to kiss me goodbye but saw someone approaching the car. I looked up and saw her. The blonde-haired, green-eyed chivalrous knight. It seems she was always taking care of me. Even when she was hurt.

Daniel tried to make small talk with her and Emma was polite but it was time to go inside. As we walked, I tried to think of the right words to say to her. I wanted to apologize but I wasn't quite sure what I needed to apologize for. I wanted to tell her that I had a horrible time and I wished she had taken me instead of Daniel. I wanted to tell her that after suffering through the world's longest lunch hour that I couldn't wait to get back here and see her. But all of those things never found a voice. With her, they didn't need one. Somehow...somehow she understood.

Every day with Emma was an adventure. I think I realized I liked her more than I should the moment I realized she had managed to pull off this huge surprise for me on Thanksgiving Day. For my family, Thanksgiving and Christmas were two huge holidays that we always spent together. On the years I had worked on Thanksgiving, I had managed to be off in time for dinner. This year was an exception and I was going to miss dinner altogether. I wasn't looking forward to eating reheated leftovers or turkey that was just starting to dry out. I also knew how my sisters loved taking pictures and knowing I wasn't going to be in hardly any of them had made this cloud of depression hang over me. I knew Henry would be having fun with everyone but I wanted to be there.

How on earth Emma managed to convince Nelson to let us take a two hour lunch ON Thanksgiving Day is incredible to me. I wanted to cry and kiss her repeatedly. Well, I did but it was on her cheek. I can still remember how her cool cheek felt under my warm lips. One of the more amazing things to me is that Emma had gotten in touch with my mom and together they had rescheduled Thanksgiving until we could arrive. I was dumbfounded at the work she put into this surprise. It made my heart leap and flop back and forth like a teenager being around their first crush.

Then there was Henry. My little boy was always nice and knew to use his manners around everyone but when he met Emma? You would have thought he had met a rock star. She was an instant hero to him. For someone who said they didn't really know how to act around kids, she had won the heart of my four-year old. Usually Henry wants to sit beside of me during all of our meals but he came and asked if Emma could sit with us this time. Try as I might, words fail me at how that made me feel. I simply nodded and made three plates of food instead of two.

My family adored her. I was so used to polite but tense conversations whenever Daniel was around that I had forgotten how much fun we could all have together. Later that night, when I came back to pick up Henry, my mom had hugged me and told me she was floored when she got a phone call from 'this Emma who wanted me to reschedule Thanksgiving dinner for you'. It was heartwarming to hear the other side of it. Emma had made it sound like it wasn't a big deal but apparently she had put alot of work into this surprise and had worked hard to make it happen.

There she went again. Making me feel like I was something special when she was the amazing one. For the next few weeks, whenever we would be away from work and talking on the phone, Henry would come running into the room asking if 'she' was on the other end. Once he found out, he would stand there with puppy dog eyes until I handed the phone to him. He would walk from room to room chatting with Emma about nothing in particular. One day I heard him ask her if she would rather be a lion or a jaguar. At least that was an easy question. The time before that, he had asked her what was the most pennies she had ever counted at one time? It seems Emma charms everyone she comes in contact with.

Christmas break rolled around and while I usually welcomed the time away from work, I wasn't prepared to deal with the separation from Ms Swan. As the final work day got closer, I racked my brain trying to find a way to see her without sounding needy. I had nothing. So, we said our goodbyes and she told me she was spending Christmas with Granny and Maggie. I wasn't too thrilled to hear this because Maggie is notorious for flirting with anyone and she's got the body to keep all eyes on her.

I wrapped my arms around her and breathed in the scent clinging to her neck that was all Emma. My grandparents had told me the best way to make a memory is to wrap your arms around someone and inhale everything that makes that person unique. Then, when you're missing them, you close your eyes and try to recall that scent. It will keep you until you can be with them again. I had done that a few times through the years but I didn't think anything would help the longing that was already in my heart. We hadn't even left the parking lot and I already missed her.

When Christmas Day rolled around, the cabin was lively and filled with the aroma of all the usual delicacies. We were preparing for the annual Christmas party my parents had been throwing ever since I was younger. It was always nice to see people we didn't usually get to see but once a year. Aunt and Uncles that had adopted me and my sisters, my parents business friends, and the few extended family members that we were obligated to invite. For my parents, that list only had one name: Daniel.

He had taken Henry for a couple of days and I was beside myself with worry. Even though Henry called several times throughout the day, I still worried when he wasn't with me. I had to get out of the house. I grabbed my coat and car keys and started driving. At first, it was aimless. I didn't have a destination. But as the evening wore on, I found myself heading towards the one thing my heart was telling me I wanted. I had been calling and texting Emma all day but she hadn't answered. I should have turned around and headed back to the cabin but I found myself standing on Granny's porch, ringing the doorbell over what sounded like a huge party that was happening just on the other side of the front door.

Eventually, I grew tired of standing outside and tried the door handle. It opened. Leave it to these carefree teenyboppers to forget to lock the door. The first thing I saw was Maggie's hands all over Emma's body. Her waist, her back and then curled around her hips. I stood by the door with my fists clenched not knowing what to say. Emma immediately disentangled herself from the red-head but I was stalking through the kitchen to get outside. Why didn't I just turn around and head back to the car? I swear this woman makes me lose all reasoning when she's nearby.

I took deep breaths trying to calm down. Why was I upset? Was I upset? Emma doesn't belong to me. I am engaged. I am engaged. Sigh. Why am I engaged if I'm picturing myself dancing with Emma and not Maggie?

We talked or rather I accused and she put me in my place. All that matters is she knew exactly what I needed because I felt strong arms wrap around my waist and hold me close while I tried to sort out the emotions coursing through my head and heart. As I played with her lapels, I knew what I wanted. I wanted her to belong to me. I didn't want anyone else touching her. I wanted her to want me. I wanted to make her laugh and do crazy things like dirty dancing or catching snowflakes with our tongues. I wanted to be carefree with her and only her.

But I wasn't ready to admit that out loud.

So she smiled and left with me. Sometimes no words need voiced for her to know exactly what I need.

We arrived at the cabin and I think my family pushed me out of the way to get to Emma. It made me happy to see her smile that shy unsure smile. My mom and dad had already adopted her. I hadn't told her that yet but on Thanksgiving night, they told me she needed to come up to the cabin with all of us. It seems the fates have obliged.

There are very few times I have truly been speechless but when I went to take Emma's pajama choices up to her, I had a moment. I was so used to seeing her in jeans or shorts that the image of her soaking wet and wearing on a short towel made all thoughts leak out of my head. I couldn't stop staring. Her legs seemed to go on forever and I wanted to run my hand under the spot the legs disappeared from view. I was having trouble forming a coherent sentence and I'm pretty sure she knew what kind of thoughts were running through my mind. She gave me one of those sly grins and used one of my own lines on me.

I left her room and stood outside clutching my chest. My heart was pounding and...and I was aroused. Very, very aroused. I had never been interested in women in the slightest but then that was before I met Emma Swan. The woman currently responsible for the throbbing between my legs and the reason all of the moisture had left my mouth and pooled between my legs. I took a deep breath and went downstairs to help my parents with a few last minute things before retiring for the night.

Usually, I slept peacefully at the cabin but knowing Henry wasn't with me had me tossing and turning all night long. Eventually, I got up and made my way to the kitchen to fix myself a cup of coffee. I remember biting my lip and trying to decide if I should get two cups down or not but I threw caution to the wind and decided to wake Emma up with a cup of coffee. As I was walking out of the kitchen, I stopped, set the cups down, rummaged into the back of the refrigerator and wrapped a single truffle up in a napkin before grabbing the coffee and heading back upstairs.

If there was one thing I was sure of, you do not wake Emma up without food or coffee. Luckily, I had brought both. We ended up lying in her bed talking about alot of things while having our morning cup. It seemed so domestic and familiar to me yet we had never done this. The conversation turned to a subject I had been hesitant to ask about but desperately wanted to know. We snuggled down into the covers as she told me about the first time she kissed a girl.

It sounded so sweet and innocent and I found myself wondering again what it would have been like to be on the receiving end of a kiss from Emma Swan. The conversation came to its organic closure and we were forced to reenter the world of decorating downstairs. Somehow, I found I would have been just as happy to lie in bed with her all day while listening to her talk.

The day passed quickly though and before I knew it, I was downstairs, standing by the pool when I looked up and caught the reflection of blonde hair walking towards me. I turned around to drink in every inch of her. She was such a good vintage. She managed to take a masculine looking outfit and turn it into a sultry, silky feast for the eyes.

I remember her complimenting me but then the entire atmosphere changed. I heard Henry cry out for me and as I was turning around, Emma was already at the edge of the pool cutting cleanly through the gallons of water restricting my child's movements. My heart felt like it was in my throat. I felt helpless. All I could do is watch as small hands wrapped around her as she kicked to the surface. I didn't really have a good understanding of what had happened. All I was aware of was reaching down for the soaking little boy who was crying and repeating my name.

I bundled him in my arms and stood there in shock just holding him. Emma grabbed my face and I know she said something but it sounded so far away. The next thing I knew, my mother was guiding me upstairs where we began undressing Henry and trying to warm him up as we simultaneously reassured him that he was ok. I felt like all of this happened in a daze.

I don't even remember lying next to him or Emma coming in to curl up with us in the bed. But as I laid there trying to fit the pieces of the evening together, I filed my anger away because all that mattered is that my little boy was safe. I turned to look at Emma and ...and I saw her clearly. She had been the only person who dove after my son without hesitation. She had saved him and brought him back to me. This blonde-haired savior who will brush her actions off because she doesn't do well with praise. This incredibly, amazing human being who is helping me warm up the little boy between us. The same little boy who reached for her.

Tonight, in this bed, I was feeling things I'm not sure my heart was ready for but I didn't want to stop the emotions. I laid my hand on top of the one that had hers and a small one already joined. My heart was pounding but in this moment, I knew. I wanted Emma to be around for a long time. I wanted her to have more Bob the Builder moments with Henry. I wanted the joy she brought into my family to repeat itself for years to come. Through tragedy, I found clarity.

We all slept well that night. The three of us bundled up in our safe spots. If I had known what the week was going to bring, I would have bounced out of bed raring to go!

We were cleaning up for the party and I had noticed a light bulb had gone out in my bedroom. I was always resourceful so I decided to handle the issue myself. I had a step ladder and the correct wattage light bulb. How hard could it bed? Turns out, I think I'd like to change every light bulb in my house the way this one was changed.

Emma had came until the room to supervise or some kind of excuse. I was onto her. She probably had plans to just sit back and watch since I would no doubt be straining and showing some skin. Although, I hadn't even made it to the step ladder when I felt her hands on my hips, lifting me up. How is she this strong?

She lifted me up so I could change the bulb and started slowly lowering me down. I was unprepared to be that close to her, especially with her wearing the tight, sleeveless undershirt. The instant my fingernails dug into her shoulder, I knew I wouldn't be able to stop. I had wanted her to wrap those strong arms of hers around me and pull me close.

When she did, my legs instinctively wrapped around her waist and I finally got to bury my hands in that silky blonde hair. Her mouth, her tongue meeting mine, all of it was creating these feelings in me that had laid dormant for years. I wanted her. Damn. I wanted every part of her.

Leave it to my sister to ruin the mood.

I was walking downstairs on legs that felt like jello and trying to act like my entire world just didn't get rocked. Celebrating the New Year with family was a sweet tradition, but it couldn't hold a candle to the fireworks I had just experienced in my bedroom.

Our vacation was quickly coming to an end but the good things it had brought me was the most wonderful, quirky woman whom my family and son adores and who, as I've recently learned, can make me forget the world when her body touches mine.

New Years are a pathway for new beginnings. I am starting to visualize a blonde-haired, green-eyed amazing individual walking alongside myself and my green dragon toting four-year old.

**A/N-There's been some confusion about a job change. Nope, the issues were personal changes that I'm dealing with. Thanks for the kind words and KOALA HUGS! You guys rock!**


	19. Chapter 19

"You'll have fun. I swear."

"We're not going"

"Ohhhh, I already have the tickets and we're soooo going."

"It is exactly the last place I want to spend a weeknight."

"Ok, you're not even seeing the good sides. It's exciting, we'll be together AND it's for charity. If you want, I'll even buy you something chocolate. Like healthy chocolate covered raisins or something."

The death glare I received across the table at Lenny's BBQ did nothing to deter me from my mission.

"Raisins are healthy. Douse them in chocolate and they are revolting. We're not going."

I took a long draw from my soda and sat back crossing my arms while shrugging. "Fine. I'm sure I could find someone else who wants the ticket. The ticket with the seat number that happens to be right beside of mine."

The wheels in the head across from me were turning so fast you could practically see smoke coming from the cute pink ears. "And who, pray tell, would this potential person be?"

I grabbed a burnt end, dipped it in the sweet and spicy sauce and popped it in my mouth. I chewed slowly while keeping eye contact with this almost fuming brunette watching me.

We sat there for a few seconds with me chewing and her staring before she tucked her hair behind her ear and held up one finger. "One night. We'll go once and then I don't ever want to hear about it again."

"Fair enough. Although, you'll be singing a different tune afterwards. Trust me."

"Hmmmph."

Lunch was finished and we needed to head back so I stood up and then extended my hand to help her from the booth. I was closer to her than I thought because when she stood up, I could see the small, golden flecks in those big beautiful brown eyes. I don't think I could ever get tired of staring into those dark eyes of hers.

I saw that familiar, slow, lazy smile break out across her face and heard her whispering. "This….." She cupped my cheek in her free hand and pushed her thumb up gently under my chin to close my parted lips. "This is why I'm occupying the seat next to yours. When you get that look in your eyes, I want to make sure it's directed at the right person."

I squeezed the hand I was still holding and then started leading her to the front door. "Yeah, no worries there. Whenever I get 'that look', it's always and I do mean always caused by you."

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Later that night, I swung by Regina's house to pick her up. She came to the door wearing a black dress skirt and white silk blouse.

"Oh hell no. Turn right back around."

She placed her hands on her hips and proceeded to ask me what was wrong.

"You're dressed like you're going to work or a funeral. Tonight is about having fun. That begins with being in comfy clothes." I took her by the shoulders and turned her around to head back upstairs to her bedroom closet.

"Sit."

She glared at me but obeyed by sitting on the edge of the bed.

After a few minutes of digging through hangers of satin, silk, and other materials that were not appropriate for tonight, I found something that might work. "Aha! Sweet. Found ya somethin'."

I walked back into the bedroom to find a brown-haired arched eyebrow with crossed arms shaking her head no at me.

"Uh….excuse me? This is an awesome outfit for you tonight so get your ass off the bed and put it on."

"It's a mini-skirt with a top cut so low, I won't be able to move without….without showing something."

I grinned. "Look, if you wanna pop a nip, I got no problem with that."

"Ever the romantic, Dear."

"I'm a freakin' walking, talking Hallmark card. Now, get dressed. I'll meet ya downstairs in five minutes."

I heard a sigh behind me as the door closed on my way down to lock up the house. "Oh, and that five does not have a one in front of it, Reggie!"

I heard a drawer slam and the obligatory albeit muffled 'We're not doing that' trickle down to my ears.

When Regina was walking down the stairs, I had this brief moment where I wanted to wrap her in a big fuzzy blanket and not let anyone see what I had picked out for her to wear but on the other hand, I really wanted to show her off.

The teal miniskirt wasn't that short. It was full and ended about six inches above her knees and the shirt was this white stretchy material that hugged her in all the right places. Well, the places it covered. The shirt was the problem. Sleeveless, thin, and cut low. But she'd thrown a necklace on that hid a lot of the cleavage that had previously been on display. Good thing, too. Whenever she was around, I tended to get distracted easily.

I quickly gave her another one-over glance and held out my arm for her to take. "Ready to go, sweetcheeks?"

She slid her hand through my arm so her palm rested on my bicep. "I'm letting that one slide because it wasn't atrocious."

"So you admit I'm wearing you down?" I wiggled my eyebrows and flexed the muscle under her palm a few times as we headed outside towards the car.

"Hardly. I'm merely acknowledging you found a less offensive term of endearment to use."

"Ahhh, right right. Don't want me moaning 'Reggie' but you're fine with a compliment about your ass."

I felt nails dig into my bicep. "Are you going to be this crude all night?"

"It's possible."

We stopped once we got to her car door and I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close. "You know you like it when I talk about your…assets."

She leaned in closer and nuzzled her nose just behind my ear as her fingers slid under my hair to lightly rub circles on the back of my neck. "Hmmmmm."

I closed my eyes and tilted my head a fraction of an inch to the side so that the tip of her nose brushed against the sensitive spot that made my knees feel weak.

I could feel the soft smile spreading across her face. She was that close. Her lips parted and I felt her hot breath hit my neck as her left hand grabbed a fistful of hair and gave it a firm tug so that my head tilted back and my throat became exposed. She knew exactly how to turn me into putty in her hands.

My fingertips slipped just under the bottom of her shirt and I felt her movements falter ever so slightly. Two can play this game. I spread my hands out on her skin and worked my thumbs around to that sexy spot where her skin dipped down right at her hip bones. I heard her whimper just before she sank her teeth into my neck.

The force of her bite caused me to fall back slightly against the car but she didn't seem to notice. Her teeth were everywhere. I don't think she even realized how caught up in running her teeth along my skin that she was. I know I needed to feel more of her. Immediately. I pulled my head back to try to capture her lips but she shook her head no and yanked my hair so hard I thought she was going to pull every bit of it out. Her teeth kept sinking into my flesh and dammit if it didn't feel so fucking good. I didn't care that I'd be walking around with bruises all over my neck. I was quickly liking out-of-control Regina.

We had barely even touched since that kiss at the cabin and right now, she was attacking my neck like a wild animal while my hands worked their way under her skirt and grabbed a silk covered ass. My pinkies slid under the material and touched her bare ass.

Suddenly, two palms came down and pressed hard against my chest effectively causing Regina to pull her teeth away from my neck and made me pull my hands out from under her skit and place them on her waist. We both stood there breathing heavy and looking at each other.

I was trying to get my heart rate back to non-stroke levels as I asked her if she was ok. I got a few slow nods in response until she could talk without gasping for breath.

"We…I don't want….the time…."

I placed one finger over her lips and tilted my head down a couple of inches so I could look her in the eyes. "Just breathe. Ok? I'm having a little trouble over here, too, in case you hadn't noticed."

I winked and waited for her to inhale deeply before trying again. "We got carried away so quickly and I don't want…..the first times we touch each other to be while we're leaning against this deathtrap you call transportation."

I raised my eyebrows and smirked. "Honey, the car seemed to be the last thing you were thinking about."

She paused for a moment, cleared her throat and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear "Yes, well, I may admit to being…" Her eyes traveled to my throat which was no doubt already showing teeth marks by the way it was throbbing "…distracted but I'd rather experience all of you in a different environment than my driveway. Add to that the fact that we need to leave in order to make it to the show and it seemed like two very good reasons to pause this behavior."

Her fingers slid carefully over my throat wiping the trail of wetness her mouth had left off of me.

"Pause means we're gonna pick this back up later, right?" I grinned widely.

"Are you expecting an award for defining a five letter word?"

"Hey!" I smacked her ass cheek and started laughing when those chocolate-brown eyes widened at the exact same time as her mouth dropped open.

I quickly moved out from under her palms and opened the door for her. "You're absolutely right. We should get going. After you, M'Lady."

"Tread carefully, Ms Swan."

"Just get in the car so we can go." I waited for her to slide inside before closing the door and heading around to my side and slipping behind the wheel to drive us off to our date night.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

We arrived at the biggest gym in town, Humbert's Hooks. The guy who owned it was a famous local named Graham who was a retired boxer. He was donating the use of his gym for the charity event tonight. The parking lot was already overflowing and the event didn't even start for another half an hour. I parked the car and we headed inside to grab our seats. On the way in, I saw Granny and Jeffrey handing their tickets to one of the nuns standing by the entrance and waved to them. Above the double doors was a big sign announcing tonight's event: "Amateur Wrestling Match to Support St Vincent's Orphanage"

Regina slipped her hand into mine as we weaved our way through the crowd finally stopping three rows from the big boxing ring in the middle of the gym. The place was packed from wall-to-wall with people from the community who had turned out to help raise money for the new addition to the orphanage. The nuns had been running the place for the past 40 years and it was in need of a facelift as well as a twenty thousand square foot expansion that included more handicapped accessible activities for the kids and a larger kitchen.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked back to see Marco and Mikie sitting behind us. I shook both of their hands and asked them who they were cheering on and of course they were rooting for their longtime friend Dave, the loader at our store, who had been the first to volunteer to help out. The girl he was sweet on, Maria, was best friends with Sister Astrid who was the second-in-charge at the orphanage. I swear a pretty woman can get you to do anything. Including wrestling a friend in front of the entire town after you've been working all day. At least that's what Mikie told us. Dave had worked a full eight hour shift and was coming right over to take his place on the mat.

Regina asked me who Dave's opponent was going to be and I was just about to turn around and ask Marco when the opponent hopped up onto the edge of the ring and climbed through the ropes. I heard Regina gasp and turned to look at her. The expression on her face was one of amazement. At first I thought it was because the guy who had just climbed into the ring was definitely on the short side but he was stocky. He looked solid and wore an expression of gruffness that could give Grumpy Cat a run for best frown.

I leaned down so she could hear me over the crowd getting riled up and whistling. "Why do you look like you know him?"

She put her mouth close to my ear for the same reason "Because I just hired him as one of the new loaders."

"Why is it I haven't seen him yet?"

She had to speak up this time because the match was just about to start. "He's still in training."

I turned my eyes to evaluate the guys facing each other when she tugged at my hand and made me look down at her. I gave her a quizzical look and she leaned in one more time to tell me something that made my toes tingle from the warmth in her voice. "His was the application you defended."

With that, she turned her attention to the mat and I stood there grinning at her like a fool. My attention was diverted to the mat so I squeezed her hand gently before putting my fingers in my mouth and whistling loudly along with the rest of the crowd getting amped up for the ensuing madness.

Graham climbed into the ring and got the crowd on their feet as he started riling up the crowd. He thanked everyone for showing up to help out the Orphanage and then introduced the two amateurs who would be our entertainment for the night. You could barely hear him over everyone stomping their feet and beating the backs of the chairs in front of them but I did catch their names 'Demolition Dave' wrestling 'Leroy the Bulldozer'.

The crowd started chanting for their favorite guy as Graham announced the beginning of round one.

Dave immediately lunged for Leroy but found air when the shorter guy darted to the left and whirled around to grab Dave around the waist and sling him to the mat. The crowd went wild. Everyone likes an underdog but something told me this wasn't Leroy's first rodeo. Graham started counting but didn't even make it past 'one' when Dave kicked loose and scrambled to his feet.

They circled each other trying to measure each other up. Once again, Leroy managed to move quickly and catch Dave from behind. Leroy locked his arms under Dave's armpits and clasped his hands together behind Dave's head.

At that point, Regina suddenly cupped her hands over her mouth and started rooting for the Bulldozer. The woman was going to get laryngitis from her newfound love of wrestling and I was grinning from ear to ear loving every minute of it.

As Dave took a few steps backwards to slam Leroy into the ropes, I tapped Regina's shoulder and took her hand to help her climb up on her chair where she could see better. The poor thing was on the short side and was getting a really good view of the guys ankles from her vantage point.

The room was filling with the smell of sweat and the faint sound of the two guys grunting with the exertion of fighting off defeat.

Graham broke the guys apart as the end of round One was signaled. The guys headed to their areas to grab some water before stepping back to the middle of the mat for round Two. I looked up to see Regina's eyes shining as she looked around to take everything in. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her chest was heaving from all of the heavy breathing she was doing.

Round Two started and she glanced down to see me tilting my head back and to watch her while grinning like a madman. She braced her hands on my shoulders and leaned down so that her nose was brushing my chin and pressed her lips softly to mine. It was the briefest of touches but sometimes the sweetest of gestures can warm your heart the most.

When she pulled back and caught me looking at her upside down with my goofy, ooey gooey grin, she whispered "Spiderman kiss" and winked before straightening up to resume her intense rooting for the Bulldozer.

Within a few seconds of Round Two, Leroy had managed to pin Dave to the mat with his face mashed so hard it looked like he was having trouble breathing. The crowd was yelling out "Bull-Doze, Bull-Doze" which apparently was underdog Leroy's catchphrase. Yeah, underdog my ass. Leroy was playing with Dave like a cat does a mouse but it looked like he was finished batting his prey around.

With everyone on their feet helping Graham count to three, you couldn't really tell when the match had been called until this huge roar of whistles and clapping filled the area. Leroy climbed onto the ropes and raised both of his hands triumphantly and just like that, the Orphanage's first charity wrestling match was in the history books.

Dave got up shaking his head and chuckling as he walked over and slapped Leroy on the back while shaking his hand. The shorter guy hopped down into the crowd and was immediately swarmed with new fans itching to get a picture taken with the champion.

I helped Regina down from her chair and we started fighting our way against the flow of people since most were headed towards the ring to see the two sweaty community heroes. I glanced back once and saw Maria wiping sweat from Dave's forehead as he downed a bottle of water. I'm sure we're gonna get a blow-by-blow account many times over once we're all back at work tomorrow. In fact, I think this whole thing is gonna be rehashed so much we're gonna get tired of hearing it but hey, the guys did a good thing tonight.

We finally made it outside and I filled my lungs with fresh air trying to get the stank of the gym outta my nostrils. the brown-haired, flushed cheek beauty beside of me kept glancing over her shoulder to look back at the building while biting her lip. I grabbed her hand and swung it as we walked back to the car.

"So, whaddya think? Was it as bad as you thought it was going to be?"

She toyed with her necklace as she tried to sound nonchalant as we walked. "It was not as repulsive as I imagined, no."

I threw my head back and laughed. "God, it killed you to say that, didn't it?"

"Hmmmmm."

"Whatever. You liked it."

"I enjoyed the fact that our ticket purchase benefited a worthwhile charity."

"OOOoo. Right. So, what you're saying is, For Charity...you enjoyed climbing up on a chair screaming for Leroy to 'Bull-Doze'?"

The glare thrown my way was almost enough to stop me from another uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Almost.

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been patient and supportive through pm and reviews. Things are better now and I am already working on another chapter. :) I wanted to step back just a little from the heavier stuff and give us all a little bit of fluff. Regina's POV chapter was tough to write so I wanted something fun for this one. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!**


	20. Chapter 20

There's one word you can say in January that'll have everyone cringing: Inventory. The store is massive and doing inventory is a huge undertaking which requires a team of people who start work as soon as the store closes and stays through each night counting everything in the store. It usually takes about a week and the pay is pretty good because you get shift differential for working after hours.

I had signed up to make some extra money since Valentine's Day was coming up. Gotta knock it out of the park since it was mine and Regina's first one together. I found out she had signed up to be part of the inventory team along with Millie, Dave, Maria, Jeffrey, Red, and Leroy. There were four other people who were going to be helping us but I didn't know them or recognize their names.

Come nine pm tonight, the dirty dozen would be working our fingers to the bone counting until our eyes were bleary eyed. As much as we all complained about inventory, it was kinda nice to not have to wear your apron and to be able to switch to 'off' mode because we wouldn't have to deal with any customers. All-in-all, it wasn't a bad way to earn extra money.

Sunday night rolled around and our vehicles were pulling into the parking lot just as everyone else was leaving. Nelson was staying for a little while to tell us how important accuracy was since our budget included a loss prevention prediction. The more merchandise we could account for, the smaller our window of theft was. Every dollar counted.

Once we all clocked in, Nelson paged us to the front of the store to the main aisle in front of the Entrance doors. He assigned the aisles we were counting and me, Regina, Granny and Leroy got the plumbing department. I wasn't thrilled because all of the small items in plumbing made that section a nightmare to inventory. It would take us the better part of the week to finish just that one area. Some departments were easier to inventory like paint or appliances. Then, there was plumbing, hardware, and lumber which made you cringe because of all the tedious counting.

We each received our inventory sheets and headed off to our designated counting areas. Thankfully, someone put some music on so that helped liven up the place. I swung by hardware to grab a few short stools to help us on the lower shelves and gave the guy counting hardware the item number so his count was accurate.

The four of us took our seats along opposite sides of the aisle with Regina and I counting the pvc fittings and Granny and Leroy counting the copper ones. "Alright guys, let's make some magic here. Granny, ya'll got ink pens?"

"An entire pack just waiting to be bled dry. Leroy, you count this section and we'll switch on the next one." Granny motioned to the edge of aisle 22.

Leroy nodded and scooted his stool down to the beginning of the aisle and picked up the first box of fittings to be counted.

Regina had set down on her stool opposite Leroy and grabbed a box of fittings. She was halfway through it when I sat down beside of her."So, I guess this means I'm writing while you count?"

"You have never participated in inventory before so I am showing you how it's done."

"I've never counted AND written numbers on this substance you call paper. Please demonstrate your famous counting technique, oh numerical blessed one." I rolled my eyes and scooted my stool closer so I could see the item numbers on the sticker below the space on the shelf.

"Are you finished with your childish rant?" Regina held up a pvc piece.

I pretended to think about it and scratched my head with the ink pen. "I dunno. We may have to come back to it around hour 7 of counting this crap."

"Well, Dear, just keep me in the loop. Now, I've counted 53 of the half inch v's."

"The half inch what?"

"The v's. You know, these." She picked up one of the white plastic v's that she had been counting.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and exhaled slowly. "Babe, those are called ells."

"Oh. Well, they look like v's so write that down."

"How can you work here for seven years and not know those are called ells?" I found the ½ inch ells on the inventory paper and notated we had counted 53 of them. When I didn't hear a response, I looked up to find brown eyes glaring at me.

I waited.

No response. Just glaring. Then she turned back to the wall of white plastic pieces and picked up a ¾ inch tee and proceeded to count them.

"Ya know, it's ok if you don't know something but you can't get all huffy when someone tries to correct you." I gently teased.

"37 of the ¾ white tees item number 35573."

I scribbled the count down on the inventory page and exhaled. "Yeaaaaaah, it's gonna be a long ass night."

We had been counting for almost three and a half hours before I had to move around. Sitting still on that tiny stool was torture. I stood up to stretch my back and one of my favorite songs came on. I was walking up and down the aisle clapping my hands, shuffling my feet and singing along. "On the roof and listen to Miracles echo to the alley down below…"

Leroy and Granny had stopped counting to watch me. Granny started laughing and stood up holding her hands out for me to take them. I put one hand on her waist and took the other as I started moving us around the small space between the two aisles. She was bopping her head and singing along with me. As the chorus started again, I twirled her around and let go of her hands to pull Regina to her feet. She was trying to protest but the laugh in her voice made her protests lose their credibility.

As I got Regina to stand up, Granny did the same to Leroy. The next thing you know, the four of us were groovin' in the tight space. We were all laughing so hard we didn't realize the people counting in the aisles near us had come over to see what we were up to. I twirled Regina and she spun towards Leroy as Granny spun towards me.

As Rod Stewart piped up with "…saying everything's gonna be alright" I dipped Granny backwards and had her chuckling. I looked up just in time to see Regina coming back up from her own dip from Leroy. As he spun her around, her brown eyes caught mine and they were shining with excitement. Her cheeks were flushed and she was giggling. Her head tilted to the side as she smiled widely at me. The song ended and a slower song came on so our impromptu dancing came to a halt just as our audience started clapping and whistling in appreciation for our little show.

I laughed and waved them off. "Yeah, yeah, show's over, people. Get back to counting before Nelson starts cracking the whip."

As they all walked off, Leroy suggested we take a break. "You guys hungry? 'Cause I worked up an appetite dancing and my back is killing me."

"Oh I'm down with that. You wanna grab our food and eat up front?" I didn't even wait for a response before heading off to the breakroom to get my lunch from the fridge.

Regina asked me to get her lunch while she went to the restroom. So, I grabbed both of our lunches from the fridge. When I looked inside of hers, I didn't see a drink so I put a few coins in the drink machine and got her a diet coke before heading up the main aisle to meet our little crew.

I found them all sitting cross-legged in front of the service desk. Regina, Granny, Jeffrey and Dave had their backs resting against the desk while I took a seat in front of the electrical display with Leroy, Red and Maria. I scooted Regina's lunch to her and opened my own brown bag. We chatted a little bit about what each of us were doing in our departments. Leroy mentioned after lunch, we needed to grab a cherry picker to count the hot water heaters and sump pumps.

The talk gradually slipped away from work and focused on more personal things. We all started naming off career paths we would have chosen if given the proper chance. Granny said she would have loved to open her own restaurant to serve the kind of country food she had grown up with. She said she had all sorts of recipes handed down to her by her mom who had collected them from family members during her 96 years on this earth.

Jeffrey said he would have opened his own boutique that had fashions items he had created that were whimsical yet stylish. Oddly enough, after seeing Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding, Jeffrey was struck with inspiration to design all of these artistic hat pieces. Now, all he needed to do is find a market for them. It's amazing how a flooring design specialist could have such a creative side.

Dave expressed wishes to open his own veterinarian's office. He said he had lots of different animals growing up and he wanted to carry his love for them over into his adult life. His main squeeze, Maria, had this incredible dream of being the first female President. She made it clear she would love to have dominion over our entire country so people could treat her like royalty. Well, it was her dream so she could pick anything she wanted to but that kindof made her sound snobby.

Leroy gave us a moment of pause when he said he had never pictured one set career because he had always been focused on wanting a big family. This guy may have been new to our group but his bluntness fit right in. As I set there chewing on my ham and cheese sandwich, I heard him describe things I saw myself wanting here lately. He said he wanted to come home to a loving wife and kids who tackled him around the legs because they missed him. He described cooking in the kitchen with his wife and coloring birthday cards for his parents with his kids. Ordinary things that I could see myself doing with Regina. Ordinary, domestic, family-oriented things that suddenly made swallowing my bite of sandwich difficult.

Red was next. She talked about how she wanted to be a ballet dancer by day and a club owner by night. A duality that married her sweet side with her wild side. Red was tall and slender and could pull off any moves she set her mind to. It wasn't hard to imagine her lithe frame in an arabesque or plié pose. It was even easier to imagine her running her own club. Red was assertive and very good at delegating and getting results. She would be a successful dominant, alpha-personality businesswoman given half the chance.

Throughout all of this, Regina has sat quietly listening while eating her grilled chicken salad. Actually, she wasn't even really eating it as much as she was poking around in the lettuce with her fork. I stretched out my leg and nudged her toe until she looked up. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on was brewing behind those wide, brown eyes. I was just about to suggest we go for a walk outside when Dave spoke up and asked me what career path I had always seen myself in. I took another look at Regina and then turned to face him to tell him I always thought I would like to go into the FBI. Preferably as a field agent because I wouldn't be happy working a desk.

Talk started up amongst everyone and I had another chance to get Regina's attention. She had put her half-eaten salad away and was starting to stand-up when Maria asked her what she had always wanted to do before starting work at the hardware store. Regina was standing there, looking down at them and I saw her clasp her hands and start to rub her right thumb into the palm of her left hand. Uh-oh. This was not good.

I scrambled to my feet with my back to the group and quietly told her she didn't have to answer that. She looked at me for a long moment and then faced the group. "I always pictured myself as a mother so I was focused on that career. I have never given thought to what other options might be available to me."

I turned around to see Granny and Jeffrey looking at her with soft smiles while Dave and Leroy nodded their understanding. Red had gasped and whispered "OMG that is sooooo cute" before placing her hand over her heart.

But little snobby Maria just had to speak up and ruin this pivotal moment. "How can you not have any dreams or aspirations? Didn't you have high hopes for your future outside of working towards retirement in a dusty hardware store?"

I swear I wanted to lunge at her. Who the hell reaches that level of insensitivity while sporting an angelic face? Jeffrey balled up his napkin and threw it in her direction while shushing her. Regina turned on her heel and stalked away with her hands balled up in fists by her side.

I looked one more time at Maria and threw up my hands. "Really?"

I took off jogging after Regina and caught up with her just outside of the store. She was standing by the shopping carts leaning over a long line of them trying to catch her breath. I went up to her and started rubbing circles on her lower back. "You wanna talk about it?"

She seemed to grip the handles of the cart she was leaning on harder and took a deep breath. "I didn't know I COULD be anything else. The whole time I was growing up, my mother didn't work. She stayed home and took care of me and my sisters and I thought that's what girls did. I thought you fell in love, got married, had kids and maybe, just maybe, if you were one of the lucky ones, you got to start a part-time career after your kids were in school."

She turned to me and wiped her eyes. I put my arms loosely around her waist even though she had crossed her arms. "None of my mother's friends worked. So all of the women in my life did exactly what I described to you. When I started working here, it wasn't because I thought I would be here this long, it was because I needed to show some independence. When Henry came along, it became a necessity that I have come to accept but it's not my dream job. It's not something I jump out of bed and hurry off to. It's income that allows me to care for my son the way he needs to be cared for."

I reached up and wiped her tears away with my thumb. "You do know that out of all of us here, you have the most important job in the world. You're a mom and a damn fine one at that."

She sniffled and I tilted her chin up so I could see her eyes. "Come on. Where's that smile I've gotten used to?"

A soft, slow smile broke out across her face and flushed cheeks and a pink nose all stared back at me. It was the most beautiful, vulnerable thing I had ever seen. Even with her arms crossed, she leaned her forehead against my shoulder and I heard her taking small, deep breaths. "You don't think less of me for not being ambitious and having wild dreams like everyone else had?"

"Are you kidding me? You fell into the best job in the world. The pay sucks but you're molding a human being into a fine young man. Nothing better than that, Gina. Nothing in the whole universe." I tightened my arms around her waist and held her tight.

The lunch break would have long been over but somehow, in this moment, clocking in a few minutes late was worth it because when someone you care about is hurting, time should never be an issue. We stayed like that for a few moments and when I felt her breathing slow and the hiccups along her back that she was trying hard to hide cease, I knew she was going to be ok. I thought about my own dreams of joining the FBI and then I felt the warm air from her mouth hit my neck. I was never so glad my dream had not been given flight that I was then.

See, if I had followed my dream, I wouldn't have been in this moment. If I had become an agent, I would never have applied for this job. If I had gotten used to working in the field, I never would have laid eyes on this walking, talking arched eyebrow. Sometimes you have to be thankful for the dreams that never were. Because those unanswered questions are what brought you to where you are today.

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed or taken the time to write a pm. I absolutely love each and every time I open my email and see notifications. Yay! We are delving slowly back into Emma and Regina's relationship. The next chapter is almost finished and has been such fun to write. Stay tuned! **


	21. Chapter 21

The year was flying by. February was almost here and I was happy with the extra dollars on my paycheck from inventory. I was already planning an awesome Valentine's Day date for me and Regina. I was sitting in the breakroom waiting to clock in while mentally picturing how the day would go. I briefly wondered how she had celebrated in the past and debated on asking her but didn't want to delve into that conversation at work. One of the tricky parts to a new relationship was making sure I didn't do something for her that had already been done. Oh well. I was pretty sure douschebag hadn't take her where I was taking her.

The digits on the time clock told me it was time to start my day. I punched in and headed up to Electrical to see what Bob needed me to work on today. We were resetting the entire department and that included changing out some of the discontinued light fixtures with new merchandise. As I rounded the corner, I caught a glimpse of my favorite dark-haired Manager.

Regina was always busy doing something but somehow knew when my eyes were on her and this time was no different. She looked up from where she was showing an irate customer something on his receipt to give me a quick smile and subtle wink. I grinned from ear to ear and winked back before heading off to find my teddy bear of a boss.

I spent the day working under the hot lights of the displays changing out ceiling fans and chandeliers. Sweat was pouring off of my back and my arms felt like dead weight from lifting them above my head all day. I was on the ladder trying to stretch my back out while taking my store baseball cap off and wiping the sweat off of my forehead and neck when I happened to look down to see pale hands reaching up with a cold bottle of water.

I took it and guzzled the entire thing before handing the empty bottle back.

"Were you going to work through your lunch?"

"What? Wait, what time is it? I forgot my watch this morning." I patted my jeans to find my phone.

"It's ten minutes past the time you were supposed to come and get me." Ahhh, the foot tapping. This woman had tells as blatant as the nose on your face.

"Yeah, well, this display is like some sort of black hole where time and energy get sucked away before you realize it. You wanna go now?"

"I would not be opposed to sustenance."

"OOo the big words just came out. Aight, lemme page Bob and tell him I'm heading off. I'll grab the car and meet you at the exit in five minutes. Can you take my apron and clock me out?"

"You do realize that technically I'm not supposed to do either of those things."

"Yep. Hasn't stopped you before. Wear that 'rulebreaker' badge with pride. Be at the car in five." I handed her my apron and took off to page Bob.

We spent the next hour at what had become one of our favorite places. It was a Thai restaurant next to the mall which served an awesome lunch special that was big enough for us to share with some left over. During our time together today, Regina told me about one of Henry's friend's parents telling her they had enrolled their daughter in T-ball. She said Henry was wanting to join because he had heard how much fun his friend was having practicing with her parents. I was all ears because I had played softball my junior and senior year of High School so I offered to come over and practice with him.

It almost looked like Regina was relieved when I offered to help. I filed that away to ask about later. Regina said she was going this evening to pick up Henry's uniform and all the necessary equipment so I suggested he and I start practicing tomorrow afternoon since we both got off at four.

When all of that was settled, we headed back to work to finish out our shifts. My mind was filled with all of these thoughts about how tomorrow evening would go. I couldn't help but feel excited at teaching Henry something that had given me a lot of joy and pride when I was younger. I don't know who was more excited: Him or me.

It felt like the next day creeped by but finally it was time for me to head to Regina's. I had packed my glove and Regina had gotten a few balls and Henry's bat for us to practice with. I had never seen a T-Ball game but I imagined it was just a miniature version of baseball or softball. The basics had to pretty much be the same.

I got to her house and headed around back where Regina was setting up this big stick thing that she set the ball on.

"What's that?"

"What do you mean 'what's that'?"

"This stick thing? What's that used for?"

Regina finished adjusting this stick and turned to look at me. "I thought you said you could help him with the rules of T-Ball?"

"Umm…I said I would love to help him, yes, but I….uh….I haven't really seen a T-Ball game, per se."

The giant arched eyebrow was back. She placed one hand on her hip and gestured to the stick. "This, Ms Swan, is the tee. You place the ball on top and Henry hits it to the other children who are in the field."

"No pitching?"

She crossed her arms. "When I spoke with the coach this afternoon, he said if the child requests pitching, he would pitch two balls for them to attempt hitting but after that, the ball goes on the tee."

I grunted. "Yeah, well, I'm teaching him to hit a pitched ball. Anyone can hit a stationary ball on a stick."

"It's called a tee, Dear."

"Whatever. Hey, where is the little fella anyway?"

"He's inside. He wanted to practice in his new uniform. My mother said that's all he talked about today on the way over here."

About that time, I heard the back door closing and looked up to see this purple and white bundle running towards me shouting my name. I bent down to catch him just as he jumped up into my arms and threw his arms around my neck.

"Whoa there, bud. Hey, you look like a mini Babe Ruth in that getup. Lemme take a look at you." I pulled back from where he was latched onto me and looked at his uniform. "So your team is called The Regals, huh? Pretty snazzy there, slick."

"Uh-huh. Mommy said purple is her favorite color." He pulled on his jersey to show me the bright colors.

"Well, we're gonna see how dirty we can get that uniform. Imma teach you how to hit this ball outta the park and then slide and steal bases. It's gonna be awesome."

"Ms Swan, there's no stealing bases in T-Ball."

"No? Any sliding allowed?"

"I'm afraid not."

I shook my head and processed that new information and switched strategy. "Okkkk, well, bud, I know I can still teach you how to hit and catch. How's that sound?"

"Good. Emma, who's Ruth?" The little boy was playing with my hair while Regina and I had been talking.

"Babe Ruth? Only the greatest baseball player of all time. You wanna know what his nickname was?"

He nodded enthusiastically.

"The Bambino. Every good player has to have a good nickname. You got any ideas of what you want yours to be?"

It took his four-year old brain about half a second to respond. "Can I be the bamgino?"

Regina and I both chuckled at this. "Yeah, bud, you can be the Bambino. Now, let's start working on that magic swing of yours, ok?"

"Ok. Let me down please."

I set him down on the ground and he ran over to get his bat while I looked at Regina and moved the stick out of the way. She rolled her eyes and went over to sit on the swing next to where we were practicing.

Henry was swinging his bat around and I whispered over to her. "Make sure you cheer him on even when he misses."

"I was hardly going to sit here like a deaf mute. I know how to cheer, remember?" I didn't think it was possible to hear whispered snapping but there ya go.

I winked and got a reluctant smile before turning back to Henry. He was holding his bat up like a club so I jogged over to show him how to properly hold it before taking my place in front of him.

"Alright, bud, all you gotta do is watch me. Ok? I'm gonna throw it slow and you hold your bat like I showed you and then swing when you think you might hit it. Got it?"

"Got it, Emma!"

I saw his little brow furrow in concentration and shook my head laughing to myself. Oh this kid was serious. I leaned forward just a bit and lobbed the ball in the direction of his bat. I heard this faint whack and the ball rolled towards me.

"WHOA! Kid you hit it! Regina, did you see that? He freakin' HIT the ball on the first try!" I didn't even register the loud whoop and hand clapping because I was rushing towards him. I lifted him up hugging him and laughing and only then did I realize Regina was right beside of me covering his face in kisses and telling him what a good job he had done.

The three of us were giggling and hugging each other. I leaned over and kissed Regina on the cheek and we both leaned in at the same time and gave him a loud smack on each cheek which caused him to giggle and drop his bat. He wrapped his arms around both of our necks and gave me a kiss on the cheek before turning to give Regina one. I stood there holding him and grinning from ear to ear looking from her to him.

It was one of those perfect moments in life where your insides feel all gooey and your heart feels like it's going to explode from happiness. "So, you ready to try that again?"

He nodded and scrambled down to get his bat. I looked at Regina and swatted her on the ass. "Go cheer us on, woman."

She was still laughing as she made her way over to the swing to watch us.

"Hey bud, you remember Bob the Builder's motto?"

He lifted his bat high in the air and yelled. "Yes we can!"

I bent over laughing at how pumped up he was. I loved it. "That's right, bud. Now let's work on hitting it a few more times and then I'll teach you how to catch. Ok?"

His little eyes were shining and his cheeks were pink as he nodded. He really looked a lot like Regina when he got excited.

We spent the next hour and a half practicing his hitting and catching. The kid had natural abilities that you were either born with or you weren't. His hand-eye coordination was astoundingly good for his age. He was the kind of kid that, with a little bit of practice, could really excel in sports. When we were finished practicing, we headed out to grab pizza. The evening felt like it flew by and before you could blink your eyes, it was time for him to head to bed because his first game was in the morning.

Regina and I tucked him in and told him how proud we were of him. He wouldn't go to sleep until we had agreed to let him sleep with his bat beside of him in the bed. Sometimes kids had the craziest requests. I flipped on his night-light as we left the room. I turned back to see him lying on his side smiling at us.

"Goodnight, Bambino. I'll see ya at your game tomorrow. Sleep well."

"Night, Emma. Night, Mommy. I'm gonna try to do really good tomorrow."

"We'll be proud of you no matter what, Henry. Now go to sleep so that tomorrow gets here faster." Regina blew him a kiss and followed me downstairs where we said our goodbyes.

The next morning, we all met at the T-Ball field where the coach was giving all of the players a pep talk. Regina and I climbed up into the bleachers with the other parents to take our place beside of Cora, Henry, Tanya and Carla and proceeded to cheer each and every player that came up to bat. When it was Henry's turn, I saw him say something to the coach and started to go down there but Regina placed her hand on my arm and I sat back down.

The coach motioned for his helper to move the tee out of the way and take his place to pitch to Henry. I held my breath and Regina reached for my hand. I squeezed tightly and watched Henry miss the first pitch. His little head hung low and he kicked the dirt a couple of times and dug his sneakers in like I had showed him.

"Can we yell out something to encourage him?" Momma Cora asked

"No, no, not yet. It'll distract him. Just wait. He'll get it. I know he will."

The coach picked up the second ball and gently threw it towards Henry's bat and it seemed like that pitch moved in slow motion. I could see Henry moving his bat and heard a triumphant 'whack' before he took off running. Everyone in the stands started cheering and I was on my feet whistling and yelling "Atta boy! Run, Bambino, run!"

Regina was yelling just as loudly for Henry to run and he made it to first base. I had my arms raised and Regina was clapping. Cora, Henry, Tanya and Carla were stomping their feet and whistling. He looked up to see all of us cheering him on and waved. He looked so cute in his helmet and purple and white Regals uniform.

The rest of the game went much the same way with all of the other kids taking their turns at bat. Although we cheered all of them on, the pride I felt when Henry hit the ball each time was making my head swell. I found out the teams didn't even keep score but I did in my head and you know what? We kicked that other team's ass.

The game ended after the fourth inning and all of the kids congratulated each other as did the parents as we were dispersing. I ended up leaving my car at the field so we could all ride together over to the local burger joint and celebrate with the other players. Cora and the gang had already saved us a seat at their table. When Henry walked in, his Grandfather yelled out "There's the Bambino!" We all congratulated him before he ran off to talk to his friends. This game was one of a few that Henry played in over the next couple of weekends. At the end of their 'season', he got this little plastic trophy.

He was the first one called up to receive his and I thought he was being recognized for being the only player to hit a coach pitched ball but I later found out it was a participation trophy and everyone got one. But you know what? It didn't matter. To us, that little piece of plastic with his name on it might as well have been 3 feet tall and covered in solid gold because Regina set that thing in the middle of the mantle above the fireplace like it was the most important thing in the house. We all stood there staring at it with pride. And you know what? To me, the little boy on my hip and the woman whose arm was wrapped around my waist, it was the most important thing in the house. It was tangible proof that our little Bambino had given it his all.

**A/N: I had to write a little bit of SQ Family in here because I was having withdrawls. Now, question time. Do you guys want a sweet and romantic Valentine's Day or do you want sweet and romantic with them talking about their pasts and getting some questions about Daniel answered? I haven't started that chapter yet so it can go either way. I'm leaning towards the getting to know more about our two girls but I'll leave that up to the masses :)**

**THANK YOU to all of the people who read and review. Also, to the readers who take the time to send a pm. I received an overwhelming amount about the last two chapters so that had me smiling for days. It's always nice to know a writer's efforts are appreciated. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! :D**


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I do not own anything

**A/N: Special thanks to everyone who has helped me through some difficult times here recently. Thank you for your support through reviews or PM. You have no idea how much it meant to receive that encouragement. AHH is a story that is near and dear to my heart and it will be finished. I have invested alot of blood, sweat, and tears into it so it's around to stay. I am splitting this Valentine's Day date into multiple chapters because it really didn't flow as one giant chapter. I had worked on this first chapter previously and almost had it completed. When I went to write today, I chucked it out and started over. Please keep in mind that I write for myself. If I am happy with this, then for me, that is all that matters. There are writers all over the world who still receive criticism for best sellers just becausea few people are unhappy with something. I write for me but share with YOU :) Even when the story burns slowly or doesn't get to subjects you want it to get to right away, keep this A/N in mind. With that, THANK YOU to everyone who takes the time to leave a review or send a message to me. SwanQueeners rock!**

Valentine's Day had finally rolled around. I had everything ready for our date night that was gonna start in about half an hour. Momma Cora was keeping the little man overnight and I was ready to get this show on the road. I texted Regina to let her know I was on my way and she said she would be ready by the time I got to her house. I checked my reflection one last time and headed out.

As I climbed in the bug, I looked around and had to grin because I think that was the cleanest I had ever seen my car. I had detailed my car two days ago and then picked Regina's car up yesterday and brought it to the local car wash where I spent three hours detailing every inch of it. When I had returned it, she told me she hadn't had time in recent memory to devote to waxing or cleaning the carpets like the vehicle needed. I also pointed out I had taken it for an oil change, filled it up with gas and replaced her car mats which were so worn they had holes in them.

We had went out for lunch earlier in the week while it was drizzling and her wipers were pretty much just smearing the water instead of clearing it. She couldn't remember when she had last changed them so I filed that away and added that to her VDay gift. Not every gift has to be romantic. It's the thoughtful ones that make your lady smile, too. Plus, knowing her car was in good shape made me rest easy. It was carrying around two of the most important people in my life.

I pulled up to Regina's house and saw the curtain beside the door move. Oh someone was excited! I grabbed the bouquet of flowers and climbed out of the car. As I walked I reached behind me and made sure my shirt was tucked into my jeans and straightened the collar on my button-up before ringing the doorbell.

My brown-eyed girl opened the door and immediately her face broke out into a wide smile when she saw the flowers.

"For you, M'Lady". I did a half bow and presented them to her. I looked up to see her bringing the bouquet to her nose and closing her eyes briefly before inhaling.

"These are absolutely stunning, Emma. You're starting the date off on such a high note, it'll be interesting to see where we go from here." She teased.

"Yeah, well, you just make sure you've got some comfortable shoes and a jacket and I'll handle the rest."

"Come inside. I need to put these in water before we leave." She stepped aside to usher me in and then headed towards the kitchen to find a vase. "You know I'm going to ask what the eclectic bundle I'm holding means."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't, Reggi...ina." I caught her glancing sideways at me so I winked mischievously.

As she filled a vase with the arrangement, I walked over to where she was to lean against the counter to watch her. "And before you ask, no, your mother did not help me. I went in with a list and she got the order together."

Regina stopped what she was doing to look up and give me a soft, shy smile. "You have my attention."

I rubbed my hands together , "Alright, Plumeria means 'New Beginnings'. We've both been kinda dancing around defining whatever this is between us, but either way, for me, I see what we have as a new beginning for each of us. We've both been through alot and while I want us to sit and talk about what all of that means, I kinda wanna leave that until tomorrow. Ya know?"

She nodded and rubbed a petal from the purple rose with a quizzical arched eyebrow.

"So, yeah, I wanted one purple rose and one orange rose mixed in because purple means enchanting." I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "I'm not really good at doing sappy but, you gotta know I was mesmerized by you from the first time I laid eyes on you."

I gripped the counter behind me with both hands and closed my eyes. "I feel sooooo out of my element here."

I heard the pruning clippers hit the marble countertop and smelled the perfume that always fills my nostrils every time she gets close to me just as soft hands cupped either side of my face. I opened my eyes to stare into wide brown ones as I heard her whisper. "I think you're doing a fine job, Ms. Swan."

I let out the breath I had been holding as my arms left the counter to wrap around her lower back. "Ms. Swan, huh?"

"Would you prefer I drop the formality?" Her thumbs rubbed gently along my lower jaw.

I winked and told her I'd prefer to tell her what the orange rose meant. Her arms moved around my neck and she leaned closer while telling me to go on.

"Well, you see, the orange rose signifies excitement." I placed a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Passion." My hands slipped down to cup her ass as I heard her breath catch next to my ear.

"And Desire." I lightly bit her jaw.

The hands behind my neck pulled me ever so slightly towards her as she moved her face to the side so that my lips slid from her jaw down to her neck. I inhaled deeply and slipped my tongue out to lick up her neck. I heard her let out a soft 'oh' before she quietly requested "Again."

I took my time thoroughly licking around all of the spots that kept eliciting soft moans from her. I could feel her fingernails digging into the back of my neck urging me on and it was creating this fog around me which made it difficult to behave. I gripped her hard and pulled her flush against me as my teeth sank into her sensitive neck. My hands kneaded her ass as I bit harder and harder.

Each time I did, she would moan louder and give the same instruction with shaky breath. "Again." Over and over I bit her, each time harder than the last. I felt this urge to mark her, to let the world know this one belonged to me. The last time I sank my teeth deep into her neck, she cried out and threw her head back. Her chest pressed into mine as I watched her breaths coming rapidly.

I was just about to ask her if I had hurt her when she opened her eyes with iris' black as night staring at me. She fisted my hair and pulled my open mouth down onto hers. Her tongue immediately invaded my mouth and every part of me throbbed with want. My hands slid under her shirt to find a thin layer of sweat building.

I let myself get lost in everything that was Regina. How she smelled, how she tasted, how her body fit against mine as she writhed against me like she was trying to crawl inside me so we could be closer. Then, I gently pulled back to put some space between us. Her eyes were wide and incredulous but I placed a single finger against her swollen lips and spoke slowly even though my voice was shaky. "I promised you this fantastic Valentine's Day and if we don't stop, we're never leaving the house."

She nodded in agreement and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I suppose you're right."

Watching her straightening her clothes like the perfectionist she is made me momentarily reconsider leaving the house but I had to stay strong or all of my hard work was gonna go right out the window. Along with our clothes and inhibitions. Wait, would that really be a bad way to spend our first Valentine's Day together?

Fingers being snapped in front of me brought me out of my inner monologue.

"Em, I asked you twice if there was anything else I needed except my jacket."

"Oh, uh, no. I have everything else." I took one last look at the countertop where we had previously been playing tonsil hockey then turned and headed to hold the front door open for her. "What the hell IS it with you and teeth, woman?"

She slowed her walk as she brushed past me extending a hand and letting a sharp, blood-red fingernail drag down the column of my throat before murmuring. "I wasn't aware I had a 'thing' with teeth until I felt yours, Dear."

With that she sauntered towards the car leaving me wondering why I decided we should leave the house in the first place. I shook my head to clear the fog and locked the front door. I jogged a bit to catch up with her so I could open the passenger side door for her to slide in. "You know, it should be illegal for someone to look that good in a pair of jeans."

"Oh? You're starting our date criticizing my choice of apparel? I believe that falls under the 'Don't' side of the dating etiquette list."

After she was seated, I leaned my head over the side of the door and winked, "It falls under the 'Do' side when I mean your ass looks like this perfect apple that I wanna take a bite out of."

She looked up from lowered lashes while playing with the hem of her jacket, "Yes, well, you do know what they say about forbidden fruit."

I chuckled and closed her door and spoke loudly so she could hear me, "Yeah, they say it's the tastiest temptation you could ever hope to find!"

**Here's a few shoutouts to some cheerleaders. I promise to try to get to all of you at some point but here's the first round!**

_**morshon**_-Thank you for always freely giving encouragement and for letting me borrow your flower idea. If you guys haven't read her work, GO READ IT! It's brilliant!

_**housecat**_-Keepin' the love real!

_**CubisticSumo**_-Thank you for all of the thoughtful reminders that this world is too big for me to try to carry. Oh and temp should be a nice chilly 65. haha

_**HaileyQuinn**_-Tides roll in, tides roll out. Such is life!

**_rickmantic_**-CLEAR! push, push, push. Is your heart ok with two new chapters being posted? I'm not even finished yet!

_**GrimInspirations**_-Thanks for all of the positive thoughts :)


	23. Chapter 23

I hopped in my side and started the car to get the heat going. It wasn't freezing but there was a slight chill in the air. Thankfully, this winter had been fairly mild so only light jackets for us today.

"Do you have your phone handy? Turn on the gps and punch in these coordinates." I handed her a slip of paper with numbers on it along with the words 'Rainy Days and Mondays Used to Get Me Down Before I Met You'.

She furrowed her brow but turned her gps on and entered the coordinates before turning the phone around so I could see it. I could tell it was taking everything in her to be patient long enough for me to explain.

I just sat there nodding and giving an occasional "Hmmm" while arching my eyebrow. Finally she slapped me on the arm and demanded I stop with the secrecy and tell her what was going on.

"Ow, that almost hurt me. Good lord, you hit like a girl." I rubbed my arm for effect while grinning mischievously. "Ahhh, I have the Lady's attention now, eh? Alright, alright. Have you ever heard of geocaching?"

I was met with a blank stare and I swear I heard crickets chirping in the background. "Okkkk, Imma take that as a noooo. Look, imagine a giant game of hide and seek. The locations you just entered will take us to our first cache, or in this case, your first gift. I, um, made a few especially for us to find today. I thought it would be a different way of giving your presents to you."

"What does the name mean?"

I bit my lip trying to come up with a good explanation but nothing ooey gooey came out so I went with the truth. "Well, each person who hides a cache gets to name it. In this case, I named it after one of my favorite songs but changed the wording a bit to relate to, ya know, us."

I could see the faint hint of blush creeping across her cheeks as she looked down at the map on her phone. She let her finger hover over the blue destination dot as she spoke. "What if someone else finds this...Rainy Day cache before we do? Will they get to keep my present?"

I reached over to rub her leg while trying not to laugh. She was so cute in the few moments I got to see her unsure of herself. "Regina, I made these cache's specifically for us. We are the only two people who have the coordinates. Ok? I promise your first gifts are safe. Now, I'm going to drive and you tell me where to go. Buckle up."

First things first, car full of gas, brand new tires, gps unit, coordinates, walking stick, boots, jackets, and geocache virgin. I ran my hand through my hair. Boy I sure hope this goes as well in real life as it did when I was planing it.

"Alright, oh keeper of the map, which direction should I head?"

I saw Regina looking intently at the screen using her thumb and index finger to zoom in and out of the location. "Hmmm, it appears our first cache is in the parking lot of that pizza place we went to for our first lunch together."

I put the car in drive, but didn't move and gave her my best blank stare. Her head whipped around. "Did you not hear where these coordinates are taking us?"

"Oh I heard that part, but I missed out on you telling me which direction to drive or how long to stay on that road or where to turn. You=GPS. Me=Driver. Ya dig? So get to GPSin."

"Hmm, take a left out of here, continue approximately 8 miles. Turn left into the restaurant parking lot. Does that mean the gift, I mean cache, is sitting in the parking lot?" I could hear the confusion in her voice.

While I drove, I filled her in on how geocaching worked and how it was a game people all over the world participated it. There were caches in the oceans, on top of mountains, state parks, as well as spread out all over the globe. For people who travel alot, there's always something new to find. It is also a great way to get to know your hometown as well as meet people who enjoy the same thing you enjoy. The more I talked, the straighter she sat up in her seat. I had to shake my head and smile at that because My Regina was competitive and wanted to be the first to find her gift. What she wasn't thinking of was the fact I had hid it so of course I wouldn't be helping her search.

We pulled into the parking lot and I parked in front of the main door away from where the cache was hidden. We got out of the car and I could see her looking down at her gps and shaking her head. I went over to where she was standing and asked her if I could look at the gps.

"See, the gps works until you get to the spot where the cache is hidden. Then, there's a key you press here, you see? It converts the remaining distance to feet and when you're close enough, inches."

I handed the phone back to her and watched as she stood there moving the gps from left to right slowly trying to get a feel for the direction we should go.

"Are you going to help me?" She asked

"I figured the first one should be pretty simple since I wanted to ease you into it. I'm gonna walk behind you but all you gotta do is follow the arrow and it'll take you in the vicinity of your cache. I'll give you a hint and tell you that you're looking for somewhere a larger cache could be hidden. Keep that in mind."

"Seems pretty straight-forward. Just...stay close." Brown eyes glanced back at me. "In case I have questions."

I couldn't help rolling my eyes behind her back. Right. Questions. It has noooooothing to do with her trying something new and possibly admitting she needed help. I took a second to watch brown-hair gently blow across the back of her jacket as she held her phone up to get a good reading. Once satisfied, she headed in the direction of her first gift. There was a part of me that was nervous but it was too late to change anything now. Either she would like it or think it was the dorkiest thing since 80's shoulder pads.

"Emma!" My head snapped up and I went jogging up to where she was standing. Cheeks flushed pink and hands gesturing wildly. "The gps says it is here. In this spot." I watched her look around several times and then her smile faltered a bit when she didn't see anything.

I took her phone from her and reminded her that Geocaching is a game of 'hide' and 'seek'. This meant she was seeking her hidden cache. Finally it dawned on her. "The coordinates led me to it but it's still hidden right here in this vicinity." She motioned around one of the parking lot lampposts.

"Very good, Reggie." I winked and took a step back.

Her head was bent inspecting the base around the lamppost but I heard her muttering , "We're still not doing that."

After a few minutes of her pushing and running her hands along the concrete, she moved up to the metal housing and found it was not attached to anything. She wiggled the square metal from side to side and looked up at me with a triumphant smile. She bent down to look under the housing and let out an honest to God squeal.

"I see it. I see my cache, Em! Can you help me?"

I slid her phone in my back pocket but not before taking a few pictures of her very first find. Together we lifted the housing a couple of inches and her wrapped cache fell out. I replaced the housing since she had already walked over to the curb and sat down to open the card that went with the package.

_Dear Regina,_

_Whether you are working, at home, or on the road, I always worry about your safety. In my eyes, your vehicle carries two precious pieces of cargo. This gift may seem small but it is my way of telling you that I care about you and the lil man and I would love to be around when these need to be replaced in six months._

_Always Yours_

_-E_

No words passed between us when she pulled back the wrapping paper to reveal two brand new windshield wipers. I quietly slid into the spot next to her and she immediately rested her head on my shoulder. Her left hand found its way to cover mine that was gripping my knee. We sat like that for awhile enjoying the moment.

Inside, I was second guessing my gift by thinking that maybe she thought it was dumb. Just as I was about to tell her I could return them and get her some jewelry or something, she nuzzled her nose into my bicep and whispered, "They're perfect."

I took the hand off of my knee and wrapped it around her waist to draw her closer to me. "I'm not the best at giving romantic gifts but I do know that I want to take care of you. This was a way I could show you that. Plus, you got to kick some serious ass when it came time for you to unveil your first cache." As my lips broke out into a big smile, I kissed the top of her head and felt her snuggle into me.

"I have never had anyone look out for me. Save my father but that was his obligation, I suppose." I felt her pause. "Are you really supposed to change your wipers every six months?"

"Ayup. With the changing of the temperatures. With the cold morning air and weather, they tend to get chipped away when they drag over ice that's accumulated on your windshield. Then, the summer heat dries them out and they crack. Either way, they end up being useless after about six months."

She turned in my arms and looked at me with twinkling eyes. "Do you always speak such romantic facts when you're trying to woo a Lady, Ms Swan?"

"I...look...whaaa?" I stood up and extended my hand to help her up. "Listen, I may not be good at the ooey gooey stuff, but you can be damn sure I'll be the type of girlfriend who makes sure your car is safe and the doors are locked at night. I'll hide cash in the car in case you get stuck out without your purse and need gas. Don't get me started about first aid kits becaus..." The rest of my rant was cut off by soft warm lips pressing against mine. A stark contrast to the chilly, pink cheeks that occasionally brushed against mine as our kiss deepened.

I think the kiss had been over for a few seconds, but I was still standing there with my eyes closed relishing in how every time we kissed, it felt like the first. When I did open my eyes, I saw the arched eyebrow staring back at me.

"Did you hear me complaining, Dear? Had you let me finish my thought you would have heard me telling you how this was, by far mind you, the most thoughtful Valentine's Day gift I have ever received. The gesture allows what is deep in your heart to shine through. So, thank you for my windshield wipers. I expect them to be put on once we return home." With a Regina-like wink, she turned on her booted heel and headed back to the car.

I followed in a daze trying to figure out how I got so lucky. Then I saw her in the car holding her phone up to the window and shrugging. OOOohh, right, right. She needed a new set of coordinates. Oh yeah. I had created a geocache addict.

**A/N: The Valentine's Day Chapter is huge so I am trying to split it into several chapters instead of one massive one. Just a heads up from T :)**


	24. Chapter 24

**BOOM! Three chapters in two days? Whaaaaat? **

**Who's the best readers? Who? YOU ARE!**

Suddenly Regina wanted to know anything and everything about geocaching. I handed her the slip of paper with the next set of coordinates and she put them in like a pro and started spouting off directions. This time, she followed the turn-by-turn gps directions instead of looking ahead to see where out next destination was.

As we pulled into the parking lot where Henry played t-ball, I could tell she was scanning the area trying to figure out which places might be possible hiding spots for her next gift. Poor newbie didn't even realize she had no clue what size cache she was even looking for.

We got out of the car and I pulled my seat forward to get the walking stick out of the back. I looked up to find Regina punching buttons on her phone and heading off without me.

"Whoa whoa, slow your roll, brownie. Where do you think you're off to?"

The tips of her ears were tinged pink from the nip in the air. "I was trying to find it on my own. What did you say the name of this cache was?"

"It's called 'Two Roads Diverged' and it's not going anywhere so take this walking stick because we're heading behind the field and into the woods." I held out the worn stick I had been using for years whenever I went hiking.

"I have boots on." She extended one foot and twirled it around while trying to balance.

"Oh yeah? Are they magic boots that will keep you upright when you trip over a rock or a tree root because, trust me, ya will."

You would think a giant arched eyebrow staring at you holding a gps in one hand and putting the other on her hip would be intimidating but, nah. My caution overruled her pride. She ended up taking the stick when she saw her feminine wiles wouldn't work on me this time.

"Happy now?" She tapped the end of the stick on the pavement none too gently while trying her best not to glare.

I winked one eye and then the other before teasing. "I'm ecstatic. The way you said 'Thank you, Emma, for making sure I don't end up with a broken foot' warmed my heart so much I don't think I need my jacket anymore."

She was trying hard to pout but a smile finally won out. "You are incorrigible. Now, what size cache am I looking for?"

I stepped up behind her and slid my arms around her waist before showing her the measurements with my hands. "Well, it's a container about this wide and this long. Oh, and it's wrapped in camoflauge duct tape so this one is a bit trickier to find."

When I was finished showing her, I wrapped my arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck as she stood there rocking gently against me holding her phone and the walking stick.

She turned her head sideways to look at me. "Is this your way of working hard to get your hands on me?"

I feigned innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Buuuuuuttttt, if what you're saying happened to be the truth, well, then I'd have to say it was a success. Note the placement of said hands." I tightened my hold on her and placed a soft kiss on her neck before letting her go.

"Mmm. Sneaky Cacher."

"OOooh, lookatchu being all up on the lingo! Now get out there and find your gift, woman." I smacked her ass as she started following the blue arrow on her phone.

As we headed into the woods, the overhanging trees made the air a bit cooler. As I was following her, I saw her pause to zip her jacket before checking the gps to make sure she was heading in the right direction. While watching her steady herself with the walking stick on a particularly bumpy stretch of trail, I thought about the name I had chosen for this cache.

It seems all of my life I had chosen the wrong paths. Some people say that Frost's poem doesn't really mean anything and that you end up at the same place no matter which path you take but I interpret it differently. I always wandered aimlessly as I followed along with the crowd. I didn't really fit in with the crowd yet I found myself floating along through life on the well worn path everyone stomps down.

When I met Regina, I started to take notice of my life. Whenever we were together or were doing something with Henry or her family, I felt like I was stepping down the less traveled path. For me, at least, I was stepping on grass for the first time. Not the dirt and grime of trodden down roads. The further I stepped down that path, the more I wanted grass.

Everything with her was new and somehow comforting. Instead of blending in with the masses, I felt like I actually fit somewhere. I felt as if all of the wrong choices I had made or poor paths I had chosen had led me to where I was today. If it wasn't for the bad choices, I wouldn't be here in this moment enjoying watching this amazing woman gleefully hunt for something I had taken the time to hide for her. If it wasn't for the past and the countless shoes I had wasted on beaten down roads, I wouldn't be appreciating the grass.

I was pulled out of my musings by an excited yell from the woman currently occupying every waking moment of my day.

"It's in this general area!" She waved her arms around excitedly. "The gps says I am within 3 feet." She slowly turned in a circle looking the huge trees up and down as if trying to mentally use the dimensions I had given her to figure out where I had hidden her second gift.

I leaned against one of the trees to watch her and laughed when she started poking the walking stick into the base of one of the trees. "Careful. You might disturb some poor unsuspecting squirrel's home just as he's sitting down to have dinner. Wouldn't want to frighten the woodland creatures."

She jumped back and threw the stick down. Thankfully, her phone remained glued to her hand. Apparently the gift finding potential took precedent over possibly breaking my handy dandy hiking club.

She must have heard my laugh because she slowly turned around and started taking deliberate steps towards me while batting her eyelashes and licking her lips. I slunk back against the tree as far as I could but there was nowhere to go. Damn brownie had me trapped like a spider does a fly.

She stepped into my space and pressed herself flush against me so that her lips brushed my ear. "The way I see it, Ms Swannnn, we can stand out here alllllll day as I hunt through every limb of every tree in every direction or..." Her tongue licked around the shell of my ear and I bit my lip to keep from whimpering. "Or...you can point me in the right direction and we can be on our way to our final destination to celebrate the rest of the evening in whatever fashion you have planned."

With that, she pulled back to grin mischieviously at me and I had lost all will to be in this neck of the woods a single second longer. "The one with the most Spanish moss."

She gave me a quick peck on the lips as a thank you, handed her phone to me and turned around to survey all of the trees around us until she found the one I had described. She walked over to it and circled it before finding the small hole nature had carved out about eye level. I took a few pictures of her as she reached in to retrieve the small container while being mindful of the squirrels. Well, that's what I thought she was doing anyway.

I put her phone in my pocket, pushed off from the tree, grabbed my discarded walking stick and walked over to where she was popping the lid on the container. Inside was a postcard with a picture of all four seasons on the front. I could tell her mind was going a mile a minute trying to find the hidden meaning so I simply told her to turn it over for the message.

_Dear Regina,_

_It seems that nowadays, you are on my mind all of the time. I suspect this is a condition that will only worsen but it's the only illness I know of that gets better as it gets worse. We've already shared so much in the past few months, but I am looking forward to sharing the rest of the seasons with you._

_Always Yours_

_-E_

_P.S. Check the postmark_

She looked in the right hand corner and saw it was postmarked Kissimmee, FL. She looked up at me and asked when I had taken a trip to Florida. I put the postcard back in the container and handed it to her as I took her hand and headed back to the car. As we walked, I explained that during the Valentine's Day holiday or really anytime you wanted to, you can mail a stamped postcard in an envelope to the Postmaster of the Kissimmee Post Office and ask them to postmark it from their office and mail it back to you. When you or the person you are sending it to receives it, it came from a place called "Kissimmee" or Kiss Ah Me, if you will, for the lovebirds.

We reached the car and I set the container inside along with the walking stick before turning to her with a shy smile. I didn't even have time to ask before she hurriedly said yes and wrapped her arms around my neck giving me the best Valentine's Day kiss I had ever had. Well, not counting earlier that day.

The sun beating down on us broke the chill from being under the tree canopy. Of course us all snuggled up like bunnies and making out like teenagers might have helped, too. I had to keep kissing her to test my theory. As we finally broke apart for air and I looked into those sparkling brown eyes, I knew this woman had me. Her smile probably came close to matching mine but I had no way of being sure.

She reached up to brush a small twig out of my hair and I tucked a strand of hers behind her ear. How could something so normal feel so special? I saw her biting her bottom lip as she smiled so I lowered my head as I narrowed my eyes and teased. "You ready for your last cache of the day, Ms Mills?"

She tightened the hold around my neck and replied with as much mock seriousness as she could muster. "As ready as one can ever be where you're concerned, Dear."

**A/N: There's one more chapter to their Valentine's Day date. Yay! I am going to start writing it this weekend so stay tuned.**

**_Grumbello_-THANK YOU for an amazing review and for letting this story into your life. It's food for a writer when we hear something like that. Awesome!**

**_WistfulLove_-You're always supportive. Thank you!**

**_oh2mu_-You better hang onto all of your thoughts because I might be stealing more than the geocaching ones. haha Wear your aluminium foil hat.**

**_thanksgivingbear_-I couldn't respond to your review so I wanted to do it here. Thank you for all of the kind words. It really made my day!**

**_GUEST REVIEWERS_-Dear lord, please get an account so I can thank you properly. Sigh. Here goes...for all of you GR who encourage or ask for an update or beg for sexytimes, I see every one of you and appreciate all of the feedback and nudging. I shall say what I always say-All good things come to those who wait :)**

**Now...onward to the VDate conclusion! Thank you for ALLLLLL of the reviews and support. Imma happy camper :)**


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